"Afternoon Shadows, Cortez Fishing Village", plein air , 11x14, Cortez Fishing Village, Starfish Grill, plein air, Old Florida, Gulf Coast

 "Afternoon Shadows, Cortez Fishing Village", plein air , 11x14

This was painted back in 2016 at the scenic little Cortez Historic Fishing Village, on Florida's Gulf Coast.

After first asking permission to paint of two men who seemed to be part of the place, I set up my easel right at the edge of the water, behind where you see the figure in my painting. I selected a great composition of two boats and the little fish shack that lies in the distance on the water as my composition, and had begun painting when someone came along and said, "Lady, you'll have to move so we can load the barge."

Well, of course! This is plein air and this is a working fishing village. So I packed up all my gear and moved to the foot of the walkway that goes up to the covered pier.

It turns out that the two men who I'd asked permission of were somewhat (I'm being kind) inebriated and had no work connection to the place at all. They stood nearby as I painted all afternoon and discussed politics, terrorism and how to change the world. It was different from listening to the gulls screech and I found after a while that I was kind of glad they were there. One even offered me a live starfish, which I dropped to the ground after realizing it was alive. You can see one of these friendly characters in my photo below.

I do miss painting in the great outdoors! The world is alive when you paint it from life. 

I haven't been to Cortez in a very long time. We used to eat lunch at the Starfish Grill, but I'm to even sure if it's still there or not. Check out this scenic little fishing spot if you are ever in Manatee County. It's definitely Old Florida!

"Misty Morning, Cortez Fishing Village", 11x14, oil on linen, award-winning paintings, Blue ribbon, fishing village, Cortez Village, Old Florida, old boats, fog, mist, fishing boats, Maryanne Jacobsen art

"Misty Morning, Cortez Fishing Village", 11x14, oil on linen

I was very happy to recently receive a First Place Award for my painting, "Misty Morning, Cortez Fishing Village", at the Englewood Art Center, a division of the Ringling College of Art and Education.

The origin of the painting goes back to a grey foggy morning when I gathered with a group of painters to paint scenes at the Cortez Fishing Village in Cortez Florida.

Cortez is a very popular spot for plein air painters, as it has the most delightful old fishing boats and scenes of Old Florida, not to mention The Starfish Grill on the Water, where artists can congregate after a happy day of painting on the rickety old piers.

This painting is available for purchase. Send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com if you are interested.

"Boca Beauty", 12x16, oil, Boca Grande, Our LAdy of Mercy Catholic church, wedding gifts, art as gifts, Maryanne Jacobsen fine art, bougainvillea, queen palms, little white church, Old Florida

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"Boca Beauty", 12x16, oil

Over the weekend I took a ride to Gasparilla Island, a pretty little island in Southwest Florida and home to Boca Grande, an upscale community on the Gulf where life is fashionable and golf carts are the transportation of choice. It didn't take me long to settle on a place to paint.

Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church is a favorite haunt of plein air painters there, mostly because of the six queen oaks and flagrantly beautiful bougainvillea that cascades along the wall in front of the church.

I had only been painting for about an hour and a half when a wedding party showed up at the church. Surprise surprise. Who wouldn't choose such a pretty little church for a wedding on a balmy Saturday?

My painting wasn't finished, but I knew it was pointless to try to continue with all the traffic.

 So yesterday I decided to paint the scene while it was fresh in my mind, using the plein air study for color and value references. Here's the 8x10 plein air study:

I actually liked the light better when I first started the painting, because it streamed sidewise across the front of the church and the front wall was in shadow. But I did not take a photo of that scene so I had to use the photo from when I stopped painting to guide me on the light and shadows. Oh well.

 From what I understand, this little white church and Boca Grande in general is a favorite wedding spot, and it's obvious why! A gorgeous island and a beautiful little white church. What's not to like?

If you have any interest in either the 8x10 inch study, or the 12x16 inch studio work, just send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com. It would certainly make a nice wedding gift, now wouldn't it?

"The Sexy Lady", 8x10, oil on board, fishing boats, Cortez Fishing Village, Cortez Florida, old florida

"The Sexy Lady", 8x10, oil on board

I was out at Cortez Fishing Village today and decided to paint "The Sexy Lady" who never seems to leave her spot in front of the dock next to the Star Fish and Company restaurant.

It's the first time I ever painted this not-very-sexy boat, but it was certainly not the first time I've painted at Cortez.

I've painted a lot of boats there at Cortez, including Mr. Chris and The Rebel and Company. It's a great place to paint, and the seafood at the restaurant Star Fish and Company, usually is quite fresh, though expect a long wait during Snowbird Season.

It was good to be back out in the fresh air!

"Under the Old Oak Tree", plein air, 14x11, oil on linen, oak trees, Spanish moss, Kim English workshops

"Under the Old Oak Tree", plein air, 14x11, oil on linen

A few weeks ago I took a 3 day plein air workshop with fabulous artist Kim English. I've talked about the workshop a few times, but have not posted much of what I painted during the workshop. The main reason for this, was that Kim's objective was to get us to paint fast, and not worry about coming away from the workshop with any "Masterpieces" or refined works.

Now when I say fast, I mean lightning quick! No time to think about mistakes, no time to overthink anything, just spontaneous reaction. (Or should I say spontaneous combustion?)

The first day started with doing 5 minute oil sketches with a live model. As soon as the 5 minutes was up, we had to quickly wipe out our painting in 30 seconds maybe, and get ready for a new pose! By the end of the first day we were all totally exhausted. (Or at least I was!!!!!!!!!)

The first day was rainy so we had to improvise. We painted indoors in the morning at Spanish Point and in the afternoon at the Venice Art Center. So not only was there a lot of paitning and wiping out, there was plenty of moving around as well! I wiped out every single painting that first day except the last one, which I'll try to post in another blog entry after I photograph it. By the end of that first day, Kim gave us not 5 but 20 minutes to complete our little oil sketch! What luxury that felt like after those 5 minute poses!

The second day was cold but a beautiful day to paint outdoors at historical Spanish Point. Our model had some great outfits that she wore including a sea-foam colored gown and blue shawl.

Kim posed her in front of Guptil House and did a 20 minute demo, demonstrating how to get in all the information as quickly as possible. Here is a photo of his demo:

Our model was beautiful and typical of today's youth in that she was glued to her iphone in between poses. I loved the contrast of old world charm against modern technology in this photo of her using her iphone while in costume with the old building behind her:

 After Kim's demo, he set us loose to try to capture everything as well on own own! I should have had some smaller canvases with me, but I didn't so this was as far as I got in the first pose of the day:

 I felt I had gotten a decent start on this one, so I deemed it a "keeper" and put it away to finish at home. The above painting, "Under the Old Oak Tree" was the result.

I definitely learned to paint fast during Kim's workshop, and since then I have experimented with adding more figures to the landscape as well.

If you would like to learn to paint quicker outdoors, and/or add figures to your landscape work, do check out Kim's workshops which are listed here.

"Humble Abode", 8x10, oil on linen, Florida Cracker Shack, Marjorie Keenen Rawlings, Cross Creek

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"Humble Abode", 8x10, oil on linen

I was going through some photos today and came across a group of photos I had taken a few summers ago after a trip to "Cross Creek", the backwoods Florida home of author Marjorie Keenen Rawlings. Rawlings is most familiar to us through her beloved work  The Yearling, about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn,. The book won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939 and was later made into a movie, also known as The Yearling.

I discovered that few people know much about Rawlings, though many have read The Yearling in school.  So here is a little history about Rawlings from Wikipedia:

In 1928, with a small inheritance from her mother, the Rawlingses purchased a 72 acre (290,000 m²) orange grove near Hawthorne, Florida, in a hamlet named Cross Creek for its location between Orange Lake and Lochloosa Lake. She brought the place to international fame through her writing. She was fascinated with the remote wilderness and the lives of Cross Creek residents, her Cracker neighbors, and felt a profound and transforming connection to the region and the land.Wary at first, the local residents soon warmed to her and opened up their lives and experiences to her. Marjorie filled several notebooks with descriptions of the animals, plants, Southern dialect, and recipes and used these descriptions in her writings.

As one enters Cross Creek, the first thing that you see is a sign that says the following:

 In spite of the excessive heat, humidity, and lack of creature comforts, Rawlings embraced this wild harsh land that few today would want to call home.

The painting that I did above, was not of Rawlings home at Cross Creek, but of a replica of an old Cracker Shack that was on the property and served as a home to the hired help. The humbleness of the property is evident, but what is not evident is the sense of profound peace and stillness that emanated the grounds.

Save for the occasional crowing of a rooster, the place was wrapped in a blanket of quiet serenity.

Above is a photo of the cracker shack , and which served as my reference.

I have enormous respect for the people who braved these harsh lands and forged their homesteads upon ground that  many today would consider uninhabitable!

I enjoyed doing this painting in my air-conditioned studio. It reminded me that I have much to be thankful for and also reminded me that I would have a hard time surviving on a remote homestead such as the one that Rawlings lived upon and called home! Yet overall, I could appreciate the sense of mystic loveliness that Rawlings described and which was etched on the sign above.

"A Morning at Snook Haven", 12x16, oil on board by Maryanne Jacobsen, plein air, Myakka River, river scenes, Snook Haven, Old Florida

"A Morning at Snook Haven", 12x16, oil on board

Today the Light Chasers painted at Snook Haven, an Old Florida style park on the Myakka River that has canoeing, a restaurant, a stage featuring live music and , of course Snook.

Whether of not the snook were biting is beyond me as I was too busy painting the river scene below:

 I finished most of it onsite, but tightened it up a bit when I got home. You can see that I realized that I'd misjudged the lighted portion of the river towards the top and adjusted it at home once I saw the photo of the scene:

It was an especially great day, for two reasons!


Number one: Fellow artist Terry Mason and I got to see our friend Jane Sither again! We had met Jane at the Calvin Liang workshop back in March and Jane traveled quite a distance to paint with our group today! Jane, we are so happy you were there! Please join us again very soon!!!!!!!!!!




Jane is a fabulous painter! She adores plein air painting and her dedication is obvious. She nailed these two canoes in only two hours!

After we'd all painted we had some lunch at The Snook Haven restaurant. Although the service was slow, it didn't stop us from having some fun! Man, not only do we paint well: we dance better than the Broad Street Mummers , too!

                                                                                                    Here's the group of us relieved to have finally rec'd our lunch. Diane Mannion is sitting next to me and she just took the Top Prize at The Women Painter's of the Southeast first annual juried show for her painting, "Mahogany Woman". I was so happy to see Diane receive this award last Saturday night at The Course Gallery in Jacksonville!

The second exciting thing that happened today is that I am now the proud owner of an original Terry Mason painting! Terry is a wonderful artist, totally committed to plein air and representational art, and the fearless leader of the Suncoast Plein Air painters, aka The Light Chasers! Terry painted the same scene that I did from a different angle, and you can see she did a great job with that old boat they use in Terry's river cruises! (It's a different Terry, of course!) :

I love everything about this painting and it now joins my small collection of art of artists I admire, which includes Hodges Soileau, Clayton Beck, Julie Hanson and some of favorite fellow daily painters including Dreama Tolle Perry, Karen Brunson, Julie Oliver and Karen Margulis!

I just love days like this!

"A Glimpse of the Past", plein air, 14x11, oil on linen, old buildings, Old Florida art, paint-outs, plein air, alla prima, Florida art

"A Glimpse of the Past", plein air, 14x11, oil on linen

This past week I participated in "Paint the Town", an annual invitational paint-out that took place this year in Bradenton, Florida.

One of the suggested painting sites was the Manatee Village Historical Park, where I have painted before. I decided to go back there and paint the other side of the same old house where I'd stood and painted a few months ago. There were not many people visiting the park that afternoon and aside from the roosters crowing and a stray tiger cat who kept rubbing against my legs, it was a very peaceful place in which to paint for a few hours.

The last time I painted this old building I had toned my canvas orange and it really gave the painting a warm Floridian glow. This time, however, I decided not to tone the canvas with orange and instead used burnt sienna which cooled the scene more than I'd expected, especially since I was painting in heat and humidity and wanted that warmth to translate to the canvas, too! In the end, I was still pleased with the way that it came out and I felt that it helped a lot that I was familiar with the building and had painted it before.

The painting will be on display and available for purchase through Art Center Manatee through April 28th.

"Gail's Old Florida Garden", 12x16, oil on canvas, plein air, Florida gardens, banana trees, Old Florida, Azaleas, Florida foilage, palms

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"Gail's Old Florida Garden", 12x16, oil on canvas, plein air, alla prima by Maryanne Jacobsen

Today I painted at a lovely private residence in Nokomis, Florida. It's not often you can find azaleas in this neck of the woods, but Gail's property has plenty of them, in every color and variety! The weather was beautiful and it was easy to paint for three hours in such a lovely setting.

I also finally got to meet Karen Hitt's studio assistant "Bonnie Blue", and a bonnie lass she certainly is!

Karen also introduced me to Wet-Case, and the Wet Canvas Carrying system and it definitely came in handy today with all the wet paint I was slinging around! Here is how beautifully neat and clean you can keep your car, even if you are an avid plein air painter that exudes paint the way most people exude air!

The thing that is really cool about the Wet Case carrying system is that it has two separate layers, so if you are painting all day, or at a paint-out, you have ample storage room for your wet canvases on the way home. The system comes with clamps that clamp right into the canvas, elevating it away from the sides of the box and keeping everything clean and neat! Here's Karen with her Wet-Case at her easel, as Bonnie Blue enjoys a pine cone snack.

To learn more about the Wet Case Carrying System, or to order your own online, here is the link: Wet Case Carrying System.

Karen caught this pic of me painting, and just in case you can't read the sign on the tree it says "Armadillo Crossing". Now wouldn't you just love to paint here?

"Old Florida", plein air, 12x12, oil on gessoboard

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"Old Florida", plein air, 12x12, oil on gessoboard

Yesterday was Thursday which usually means painting with the Sun Coast Plein Air painters.
The Destination was the Manatee Village Historical Park in Bradenton which is a very cool place with old buildings depicting what it was like to live in Old Florida before the advent of tourists and snowbirds.

It was an hour drive to the site, and as I was driving I realized that I had made a mistake toning my canvas the night before with a warm color- orange! The sun was a total no-show on this cloudy morning. When I arrived I was amazed at how interesting all the little buildings were, though I realized painting any of them would be challenging as I found them looking pretty drab and lifeless under the sunless sky.

I decided to make the best of the situation and just practice what I am weak at- perspective. I concentrated on the perspective of the two little buildings only to find that my biggest challenge was not the lack of sun and the perspective, but the Spanish moss in the trees!

GRRRRRRR!

When I go back there, I may try this little house again. Hopefully by then there will be sunny skies!