"Palm Parade at Ringling", 14x11, oil on linen Raymar panel

"Palm Parade at Ringling", 14x11, oil on linen Raymar panel

I painted this a while back but never posted it. I liked the the contrast of shadowed foreground against the brightness of the middle ground. But what initially attracted me to the scene was the varying shapes of the palm tress as they paraded from foreground to background.

The Ringling!, aka as the Ringling Museum, is located in beautiful Sarasota Florida, and the museum is a must-see for all visitors to this area of Florida. Beautiful grounds, a world class art museum and circus museum as well as a Venetian mansion are the legacy of John and Mabel Ringling. The estate passed to the state with John's death in 1936. John Ringling was one of the five original circus kings of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and blessed with entrepreneurial genius and through his success with the circus and other investments, he became wealthy enough to acquire the 20 acres of waterfront property in Sarasota, Florida in 1911.   In 1912 the couple began spending winters in Sarasota and later decided to build a home there, which was named Ca'd Zan.I have painted Ca'd Zan many times before, but this painting takes on a side view of the mansion.

To learn more about The Ringling!, please visit the website here.

If you are interested in this or other paintings of the Ringling Museum, please contact me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com, or simply type in the word "ringling " in the word search in the upper left corner of this blog. Thanks for looking!

"Before the Rain, Ca' d Zan", 12x16, oil on board, plein air

"Before the Rain, Ca' d Zan", 12x16, oil on board, plein air
Note: you can click on the image to view the impasto and brushwork better.

It was a busy week! Tuesday kicked off the Light-Chaser's "Paint Sarasota!" paint-out. The day loomed unseasonably nasty, with high winds and a 50% chance of rain. Normally I like days that are overcast, so I don't have to worry too much about rapidly changing light conditions. But the wind was quite harsh and a couple artists ended up chasing their easels rather than the light!

I chose to paint at the Ringling Museum again, feeling totally captivated by the surroundings of banyan trees, Venetian architecture and statues of cherubs and angels lurking in the shadows. I chose to paint Ca' d Zan once again, feeling that the light conditions could evoke a sense of atmosphere.

In the end, the experience was pretty challenging. I found myself running my paints and painting back and forth between the hatchback of my car and the easel that I had set up in front of the museum. It would sprinkle, then stop, then start again and I alternated between painting under the hatchback and trying to paint under my plein air umbrella. In the end, I finally got thoroughly soaked but managed to save my painting from annihilation!

Thursday morning the 73 Paint-Out participants set up our easels in the courtyard of Art Center Sarastoa for judging by renowned plein air artist Morgan Samuel Price. Much to my surprise, my painting was chosen for an honorable merit award, which meant a coveted spot in the Light-Chaser exhibit and a fabulous gift certificate for supplies and framing at Florida Frames!

It was a tiring week, but rewarding. I'll post my sunny day painting tomorrow!

Check out Morgan's website here. She is an amazing painter, teacher and author of two books on plein air painting.