"Peaceful Waters", 12x16 , sunsets, Venice Florida, Beach, sea oats, southwest Florida scenes, last light, MAryanne Jacobsen art

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"Peaceful Waters", 12x16 (approximate), oil on linen paper

Caught this beautiful sunset at Venice Beach over the weekend. Hope you like it!

"Provencial Light", 30x24, oil on wrapped canvas, paintings of Provence, Lacoste, palette knife paintings, Maryanne Jacobsen art, impressionism

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"Provencial Light", 30x24, oil on wrapped canvas

I had painted something similar to this in a smaller format some years back, and really enjoyed trying to capture that elusive Provencial light that makes artists gasp for joy when visiting Provence. So I determined to paint the scene again, this time in a much larger format than before.

I  must say that I thoroughly enjoyed painting this. It was painted with mostly a palette knife and has thick passages of paint throughout.

This painting is sold. Please contact me if you would like to commission something similar to this one.

"The Long Walk Home", 16x20, oil on Ampersand Panel, Maryanne Jacobsen art, home, Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, Prodigal Son, sunset, sunrise, spiritual art

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"The Long Walk Home", 16x20, oil on Ampersand Panel

This was an experimental piece for me in that I was adjusting to the weird light in my new north lit studio, as well as playing with a theme straight from my imagination. The girl in the painting is tired, yet buoyed to keep walking by something that the viewer can only imagine. She is walking towards the light- it could be sunrise and the dawn of a new day, or even sunset where mistakes of the day can be laid to rest with the promise of  a better tomorrow. The shadows are long and the colors are muted yet vibrant in areas touched by the warm light.

The scene is reminiscent of both The Prodigal Son and The Wizard of Oz. In the first story, the prodigal makes his/her way back home after discovering that money and pleasure are fruitless, and a path to eventual destruction. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy discovers that all her notions of magical faraway places, filled with adventure and excitement, can also be fraught with danger and sorrow. In the end, Dorothy realizes that there is "no place like home".

So I invite the viewer to make up his own story about this young woman, and enjoy your journey into her mind!

Contact me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com, if you have any interest in this painting.

"Loch Vale", 5x7, oil on Ampersand Panel, Rocky Mountain National PArk. paintings of Colorado, MAryanne JAcobsen art, landscapes, nountains, lakes, rivers

"Loch Vale", 5x7, oil on Ampersand Panel

Loch Vale is a moderate hiking trail in Rocky Mountain State Park.  I'd love to see it in person before my days are done on earth. It's one of many things on my bucket list these days.

It's a blessing to at least be able to paint beautiful places when one cannot visit them in person.

What's on your bucket list? I'd love to hear from you as maybe your list will inspire my next painting!

"Stormy Seas", after Ivan Aivazousky, 8x10, Susan Ploughe workshop, waves, boats, ships, storms, seascapes, Maryanne Jacobsen

"Stormy Seas", after Ivan Aivazousky, 8x10

On the third and last day of the excellent Susan Ploughe workshop that I took this week, the topic was waves. I rarely paint waves for a couple reasons. Firstly, they are HARD!!!!!! Second, we really don't have hardly any waves to observe here on the west coast of Florida (Gulf of Mexico) so I don't practice them. Our waters are pretty calm, with the exception of the occasional hurricane. Third, I have often thought that many paintings of waves were rather boring. That was until Wednesday, when Susan showed us a slideshow of how different artists handle waves and I was introduced to Ivan Aivazousky.

Whoa!!!!!! Can I say jaw-dropping, exceptional, mind-blowing beauty? I googled him that night to find out more about him and turns out he is considered one of the greatest maritime artists of all time!
Ivan Aivazovsky was born in 1817 into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia in Crimea and was mostly based there. He died in 1900 and evidently studied the sea extensively throughout his lifetime, producing the most incredibly gorgeous seascapes I have ever seen.

So as with the other days of the workshop, after Susan's demo, we were given chance to choose which wave photo we wanted to paint and how could I resist this?

Original work of Aivazousky above.

I struggled quite a bit with this one. Painting the delicate tracings of foam on the water almost made me cry, but in the end, I learned so much just from trying to copy the work of a true master.

I am going to continue to practice painting the sea, and maybe someday I'll find it less intimidating. 

I highly recommend Susan's workshop "Waterways", if you want to learn some of the many intricacies of painting water in all of of it's delightfully daunting forms.

"Falling Down", 7x9, oil, paintings of water, waterfalls, small studies, allaprima, MAryanne Jacobsen art, cascading water, Susan Ploughe workshop

"Falling Down", 7x9, oil

I've been taking a workshop this week with Susan Ploughe, an award-winning artist with a caring and professional teaching style. In each segment of the workshop , titled "Waterways", we look at the different aspects of water and how to approach the challenge of painting it. So far we have covered still water, reflections , ripples and waterfalls. I guess you can guess which segment represents my painting!

After a short slideshow, followed by a demo by Susan, we are allowed to choose from about half a dozen photos and see what we can do with the chosen picture. This was my first attempt at painting a waterfall and I managed to do it in just a little over an hour. I'm not unhappy with it, but realize, I need to work a lot on softening my edges.

I'm looking forward to more water paintings tomorrow, the last day of these fun and informative 3 day water workshop.