"Peaceful Cove", 8x10, oil, Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, palette knife painting, texture, clouds, ocean, fish shack, blue, red

 "Peaceful Cove", 8x10, oil

It's been awhile since I posted. Without going into detail, the past few months have been really hard on many levels. So I was grateful to be able to produce anything after all these weeks.

I used mostly a palette knife and there's some sweet texture in this little piece.

It's a peaceful scene of a little red fish shack up in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. I've painted this scene before, and it brings back positive memories for me of clean fresh air, long vistas of sand and sea and the bracing smell of salt, sea, and the ice cold Atlantic.

If you are interested in this painting, please send me a message at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

"Morning Blues", 16x20, oil on canvas, blue, hydrangeas, blue florals, Maryanne Jacobsen art, impressionist florals, outdoor florals, blue bottles, blue flowers

"Morning Blues", 16x20, oil on canvas

Another backyard floral completed yesterday! I am having a ball painting florals en plein air as I have the luxury of completing them indoors through a photograph when the light changes too much to continue to work outside. As an avid plein air painter, this is a wonderful chance to paint objects in outdoor light under controlled conditions.

I recently experienced a very negative experience painting on a windy boat dock, with some of my valued stuff flying off the deck and into the water while continually holding onto the easel (and my balance) for dear life! For less experienced plein air painters, I highly recommend trying a floral set-up in your backyard, patio, deck or whatever. You can leave it there overnight and return to it the next day, (As I did with Au Printemps) or finish it up indoors when the weather gets too hot or the bugs get too nasty. Best of both worlds!

This one was begun last Friday in Katie Cundiff's back yard, and although the morning light was a little dull, the weather was altogether pleasant. The birds were singing, fish and frogs were flapping about in the pond, and every now and then a pair of sandhill cranes would stroll by. Katie has been mentoring a group of artists every Friday in the methods of painting florals after the syle of Ovanes Berberian. Overall, I am still struggling with the technique and the preparation time as well as the copious amounts of paint requred to paint this way. But enjoying it nonetheless. I finished this painting up in my home studio yesterday. Ever though the paint had dried I was able to finish it somewhat successfully and I wasn't displeased with the outcome.

To see Ovanes work, you can go here, and to visit Katie's website and see her beautiful work, go here.

"Peaches and Cream", 16x20, oil on linen, paintings of fruit, roses, peaches, blue, award-winning art, Maryanne Jacobsen , impressionism

"Peaches and Cream", 16x20, oil on linen

I painted this one a while back and at the last minute I decided to enter it into the Venice Art Center's "Tutti Fruitti" competition. The only requirement was that fruit be included in the design.

I was pleased to find out that the painting received an honorable mention in the exhibit last month. I was in very good company on the wall with the ribbons as Hodges Soileau won first place, Bill Farnsworth won second and  Jeff Cornell won third. My friend and avid plein air painter Karen Hitt also received an honorable mention. It was a great show with hundreds of entries so I was pleased to receive a ribbon. Thanks to Judge Diane Mannion for choosing this painting for a ribbon.

The Girl in the Blue Dress, 16x20, oil on linen

"The Girl in the Blue Dress, 16x20, oil on linen

I really think I could get hooked on painting portraiture. There is something so very satisfying about painting flesh and blood! It's not the skintones or the hair color and the sparkle in the eyes that's so intriguing- it is the intrinsic quality of the person- his or her unique characteristics translated into pieces of paint that makes portraiture such a challenging and deeply satisfying craft.

During my David Leffel workshop a couple weeks ago I started a painting of the workshop model, on the third day of the workshop. I worked on her for two days straight and discovered on Friday morning (the last day of the workshop) that the model would not be sitting for us until the afternoon session. So rather than waste time, I started another still life in the morning and worked on it throughout the day, and was very happy with the end result. That left an uncompleted painting of our model and a very unsatisfying photograph of her in which to work from.

In the past, I have had the wonderful opportunity to study with talented artist and friend Jon Greeley. Jon is a fantastic figurative artist and although I am sometimes overwhelmed by his talent and knowledge, I recently decided to begin studying with him again to hopefully increase my own ability to successfully paint figurative work. This past Friday was a real treat for me! I took my unfinished painting of Claudia to Jon's studio and we worked on it throughout the afternoon. Jon studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and has been painting portraits for many years, rigorously studying the techniques of both the Old and contemporary Masters. He has been showing me different palettes of the Old Masters and how to apply paint so as to sculpt, rather than just render, people and objects. When Jon applies a piece of paint, it is carefully thought out and applied with a sensitivity to the subject matter, much as David Leffel demonstrated in his workshop. Jon has won numerous awards for his figurative work, and I feel very fortunate to be able to study with him again.

In the painting above, Jon reworked the skin tones and model's features somewhat, and demonstrated how to apply pieces of paint with the same lovely abstract quality and sensitivity to the subject that I so enjoyed during David's self-portrait and still life demonstration. Today, I made a few minor adjustments to the painting but in the end I cannot truly take credit for the overall beauty and sensitivity of the model's face. I do hope that one day, I'll be able to apply paint with similar finesse!

Marigolds in a Blue Vase

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"Marigolds in a Blue Vase", 4x6, oil on wrapped canvas

I picked these from the garden and they looked so pretty in the blue vase that I decided to paint them!

Lyrical sunflowers

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Lyrical Sunflowers, 8x10, oil on wrapped canvas

Lots of cool impasto in this one!

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Tea and Lemon, a study in blue & yellow

SOLD "Tea with Lemon", 12x16 , oil on Raymar panel
This still life begs to ask the question, "Where's the biscotti?" Indeed, I had to take the biscotti jar and its contents away as I painted this picture, because I simply cannot resist dipping stick after stick of delicious biscotti into my tea. Normally, it's not much of a problem, but when painting it's best to just keep a paintbrush in the hands!

The tablecloth has a nice feeling of rough starched linen to it, and the grouping of the plain blue cup, bottle of water, biscotti jar lid and yellow lemons, make a statement of simplicity that is both soothing and elegant at exactly the same time.



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