"Florida Nature Preserve", 11x14, oil on linen, plein air, Oscar Scherer State Park, paintings of nature, plein air paintings, southwest Florida art, Osprey, sale

 "Florida Nature Preserve", 11x14, oil on linen, plein air

I painted this on location many moons ago, with the Light Chasers, plein air group. We watched a demo first, by someone who's name I can no longer recall, and then we all wandered off to find that special place that inspired our senses. I found mine here, near water and a patch of red foliage.

It was a clear beautiful day, not yet the heat season that attracts bugs and sunburn and snakes.

I do miss painting outdoors, but restrictions from a back injury no longer allow me to do that. At least not yet.

I am have a huge sale of beautiful artwork on my website, that includes this painting. Please check it out here, and find a painting that speaks to your soul!

"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

SOLD

"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!

Painting awards!

"Simple Gifts", 16x20, oil on linen (People's Choice Award)

This was a good weekend for me paint-wise. On Saturday, I was awarded the "People's Choice Award" from The North Port Art Center for "Simple Gifts". I also received an honorable merit award for this painting.

On Sunday, I received the second place award for Fantasy Impromptu from the Englewood Art Center, which is a division of The Ringling College of Art and Design. I was also invited to do a solo exhibit there in the summer of 2009. Here are a couple pictures of me at the receptions.

People's Choice Award/honorable mention for "Simple Gifts", North Port Art Guild

Second Place Award for Fantasy Impromptu, 18x24,

The funny thing about Fantasy Impromptu is that I sold it from my blog to a lady a few months ago. The woman paid for it and I was about to ship it. The day I was supposed to ship it, I took it out onto my porch and sprayed it with what I thought was retouch varnish. The painting started turning all white and misty as I was spraying it, and that's when I looked at the can and realized that I had sprayed it with Elmer's mounting Glue!

I called an oil painting restoration expert in Sarasota and followed his instructions to remove the glue. It took almost a week and I had to touch up the painting afterwards, since some of the paint came off in the process of removing the glue. In the end it looked just fine, but I told the person who had purchased the painting what had happened with the glue and in the end she decided not to purchase it. I am glad now, since it has turned into an award winner.

This is what a friend of mine calls a "God Wink"; when God takes what looks like a bad situation and turns it out for the good.

Recently, I also won a second place ribbon for "Faces in PLaces" exhibit, for the Girl in the Red Unitard. See picture below. You can read more about it here.



Thanks to the Lord for giving a dumb person like me a little talent, and for using my talent to make people who buy my paintings feel happy!

Amen! Hope everyone had an uplifting weekend!