"The Dancing Tree at Red Lake", 11x14, oil on canvas, paintings of trees, Florida landscapes, naturalist art, trees, water, Gulf of Mexico, Galerie du Soleil

"The Dancing Tree at Red Lake", 11x14, oil on canvas

Back in 2007 I was a brand new baby painter and  excited to explore many new subjects! I was totally a novice at plein air painting, but one day I decided to go out and try my hand at it with a local plein air painting group in Venice, Florida.

I remember sitting along side pro plein air painter Karen Hitt, who was painting the same scene with ease and purpose while warning me, a new Floridian, of the dangers of alligators in the immediate area.

This was the painting that I turned out that day:

In some ways, this painting is altogether engaging in its naivete. I truly had no idea how very immature it was at the time! That being said, my love for color was evident, and that is the one thing that I have had to work the hardest at bridling over these last few years.

Although I consider myself a colorist, for artists who do not care for color in the same way that I cherish it, my color palette is a handicap- a drawback to my progress. Workshop teachers have often called my work "garish", and the kinder of the bunch have called it "overly saturated". So I have worked hard over the past couple years to reign in my love for saturated color, usually to the detriment of my passion.

The painting I did last week reflects that restraint, and although I find it rather boring, I admit that it is certainly more accomplished in its restraint than the earlier version!

Last week was a turning point for me in my life and in my art walk. I have been going through some challenging times in my personal life, and that has hampered my creative juices to the extent that I was not even sure I'd be able to turn out a painting for the annual "Light-Chaser" plein air event,
which culminated last week in Sarasota, Fl.

Last year I could not wait for the event! I was stoked! Even painted out in the rain and received an honorable mention for my efforts by juror Morgan Samuel Price!

But this year, it was all just a burden-too much for a spirit that had been squashed by events that were totally out of her control.

Nonetheless, I was encouraged by the fearless leader of the group, Terry Mason, who said I should follow the advice of artist and Florida naturalist Mary Erickson and just "Paint through it!"

So I went out last week on the only sunny afternoon of the entire week and attempted to paint through the sorrows and pains of the last 7-8 months of my life.

The sun was gentle, the colors I saw more subtle, less brilliant. Yet, in it all, I persevered knowing that I have been given a gift by the Creator to create and capture tiny slivers of His creative hand at work, and so that is what I tried my best to do.

There were few people uiing the canoe launch that day at Red Lake, and there were no alligators to be seen. Only the constant presence of that special tree that had inspired me to paint it, as a result of its fresh beauty and total uniqueness.

The waters of the intracoastal carried a gentle rythmn as they flowed past my dancing tree- a name I gave it way back in 2007, when I first discovered it's uncommon beauty.  A dancer amongst the straight and stoic! A stoic itself amidst the relentless heat and constant storms of a Florida summer.

Thank-you for reading my blog. I hope that you enjoyed this entry, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

"The Dancing Tree at Red Lake" is available through Galerie du Soleil.

"Cap'n Jake's Crab Boat", plein air, 12x12, oil on board

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"Cap'n Jake's Crab Boat", plein air, 12x12, oil on board

Yesterday was one of those rare May days in Florida without much humidity so I decided to go back to Blackburn Point and see if the old crab boat was there. Surprisingly, it hadn't budged an inch since I was there back in March.

So I set up and started painting. The sun was bright when I started but then turned very cloudy. I managed to get enough info down before becoming distracted by the changed light, and decided to call it a day.

The first time that I painted this scene I used a 9x12. I must admit that I like the rectangular format better than the square. The light was much brighter that day as well, and it definitely influenced the light temperature I depicted in the painting.

 "No Crabs Today!", plein air, 9x12

So much about painting is trial and error. Why did the first painting come together more easily than the second, I wondered? Did the clouds affect my mood yesterday? Did I give myself too many color choices by not limiting my palette? The questions that go through my mind after a painting session are usually endless, and I often lay awake for hours trying to figure out what went wrong with a painting.

But I guess the most important question of the day is this? Where are the crabs? Poor Captain Jake is surely gonna go out of business soon if the crabs don't come back! And yes, there has been a dearth of them on the menus in area restaurants as well. Good luck Captain Jake. If you need cash maybe you should charge a modeling fee. I really do enjoy painting this old boat!!!!!!

This painting is available through Galerie du Soleil.

"Another Beautiful Gulf Morning", 16x12, oil on linen, old boats, fisherman, Gulf of Mexico, Florida art, fishing boats, seascapes of Florida

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"Another Beautiful Gulf Morning", 16x12, oil on linen (Note: you can click on the photo for better detail viewing of the painting.)

I took the two plein air studies that I did over the last two weeks from my outings to the North Jetty, as well as a reference photo, and used them over the past few days to create this studio painting.

I added the figure of the boat's owner and stuck with a limited palette to keep the painting unified. I combined both brushes and palette knife to keep the painting interesting and lively.

This painting will be going into the Light Chaser's annual show at Art Center Sarasota next month, but if you have any interest in the plein air study, "Old Boat, New Day", that I painted last week,  just contact me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com for pricing. Below was the reference that helped me add the gentlemen in the boat:

"Crow's Nest View", 8x10, oil on linen, plein air, Maryanne Jacobsen, Venice Beach, north Jetty, The Crow's Nest, boats, water, Gulf of Mexico

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"Crow's Nest View", 8x10, oil on linen, plein air study (Note: you can click on the photo to get a better view of the painting)

I painted this morning at the North Jetty. The last time I painted here, I painted the trees along the path over the little footbridge that faces west and north towards the Gulf. Today I elected to paint the south view across the jetty where the boats come out of the inter-coastal on their way to the Gulf of Mexico. There's a restaurant there called "The Crow's Nest" and it's always a fun place to dine.

Unfortunately, the two boats that were docked at The Crow's Nest left before I could finish painting them so I had to wing it from memory. It was a pleasant, though very hot day and there were tons of happy fisherman all around, as well as egrets, pelicans and herons. A manatee passed through the channel and there was also a dolphin sighting.

Because I was so far across the water from the restaurant and south jetty, I had to just squint down to see the shapes. The clouds were in interesting formations so I decided to put them into 'the story', too. Overall a really nice day to paint in the sunshine!