"Raining Rose Petals", 9x12, impressionist florals, coffee cup, roses, windowsill, alla prima

 "Raining Rose Petals", 9x12

In this painting, I attempted to keep my brushstrokes loose and fluid, suggesting movement and the play of light on the surface of the flowers.  I concentrated on creating a soft impression, rather than a tight rendering of the elements- thus the minimalist approach to the roses and background elements.

The impressionists attempted to capture the fleeting beauty of a simple moment, highlighting the play of light and color in a way that is vivid and evocative. That was also my goal in painting this simple still life. 

If you like this painting, please leave a comment below.

"Red Umbrella", 9x12, oil on board, Paris, cityscape, small streets, LAtin Quarter, impressionism, alla prima, red umbrella

SOLD

"Red Umbrella", oil on board, 9x12

This was a quick study that I did last night of a little side street in Paris after a rainfall. My objective was to keep the painting fresh and the brushwork lively and not to overwork it. It was completed in just under 2 hours.

Plein air versus studio! "Country Road, Take me Home", 9x12, oil on linen

"Country Road, Take me Home", 9x12, oil on linen

I decided to take my plein air painting of the "Cornfields at Granogue", and use that and my reference photo to conduct a little experiment.

Over the years, many collectors have fallen in love with my work, as a result of the colors and palette knife work that I used in my first  few years of painting. Over the past few years, however, I have moved more towards the representational, replacing many of my fauvist colors with colors that more accurately describe the subject at hand. I also began favoring more brushwork in my paintings, as I felt there were more ways to be descriptive with a brush, while the palette knife limits how you can render certain subjects, like clouds or cotton.

So today I decided to recreate the "Cornfields at Granogue", using a palette knife and the palette of colors that I used to use exclusively- which is after the Cape Cod School or Hensche method. This was my reference photo:

I think the thing that hampered this experiment of "which is better", is the fact that the first painting was exclusively plein air- it was finished on site and therefore had more immediacy and freshness to it than the studio as piece, as well as truer color.

On the other hand, I was able to be more thoughtful about the trees in the background in the studio piece and they are probably more accurate than the plein air painting for the simple reason that by the time I got to them that day the light had changed dramatically.

The cornstalks in the foreground were definitely in shadow when I began the painting that morning. Yet I was aware that I was starting to "Chase the light" by the end of the 2 hour session, adding more and more light to those foreground cornstalks and thus rendering the light direction confusing.

So overall, both methods of working have their pros and cons, with different results and I feel that this was a good experiment in thinking about things that will help me paint better in the future.

Would love to hear your comments on which of the two paintings you like better and why!

Thanks for visiting my blog.

"View from the Pentagoet Inn", 9x12, oil on panel, Castine plein air festival, Pentagoet Inn, Castine, Maine, scenic towns in Maine

SOLD

"View from the Pentagoet Inn", 9x12, oil on panel
(Note: Unfortunately, I do not have a better photo of this painting as it sold before I could take a decent photo)

Just got back from the Castine Plein Air festival, held in Castine, Maine last weekend. It was Castine's first plein air festival and I must say it was one of the best Paint-outs that I've ever attended. The chairpersons, Dan Graziano and Don Tenney, did a fanstastic job in making sure that everything ran smoothly- not an easy task for a one day plein air event!

I arrived a day early in the hopes that I could scout the town for a couple good painting sites. Unfortunately, the rain was torrential the entire day spoiling my plans. The sun finally broke through in the early evening and many artists could be seen walking around the streets of this immensely scenic little town to get a lay of the land and find their favorite spots.

Morning came and the sky still looked a little questionable from my view of Main Street at the Pentagoet Inn where I was staying.

After going to the Village Green and getting my panels stamped, the sun began to break through at last! But I decided to play it safe and paint under the awning just in case there was another downpour! By noon I had finished my painting and the sun was shining brightly!

After lunch I decided to make my way down to Dennet's Wharf for an afternoon painting. I'll post that one tomorrow as well as some photos of Castine's scenic harbor.

The evening art reception and sale was a beautiful event and there must have been at least 500 hundred people who turned out to view the art, meet the artists and purchase paintings!
A resident of Castine bought my painting and I had the opportunity to chat with her and learn a little more about Castine.  Here is my painting at the event with its red dot:

 The event was held at the Maine Maritime Academy and it was a beautiful site for an art event, featuring a wrap around deck that overlooked the beautiful hills and waters of Castine.

I also enjoyed spending time with my friend and fellow artist, Jane Sither and her family, who also traveled from Florida for the Paint-Out.

Overall, it was a wonderful event and I was very happy that I was invited to participate!

"Pas de Trois", 8x8 , oil on board, rose study, pink roses, three roses, roses in glass vase

SOLD

"Pas de Trois", 8x8 , oil on board

Set up a few roses in my kitchen and this was the result. See my set-up below.

For those not familiar with the French term, pas de trois usually refers to a dance in ballet between three people. (or roses, lol!)  Typically a Pas de trois in ballet consists of 6 parts.

Yes, this painting did indeed consist of 6 separate parts!

1. Paint in your north lit studio for an hour
2. Realize you can't see a danged thing in your north lit studio including your painting
3. Wipe the whole danged thing out
4. Start over in the kitchen where you are happy to discover that you're not actually blind
5. Find your mojo after another hour of frustration and continue painting for another hour
6. Sign the finished painting and sigh!

Lots of thick paint in this one!

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

SOLD

"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.

"Lonesome Cypress, Los Lobos", plein air, 9x12, Point Lobos, Cypress, Monterrey Cypress, Carmel

SOLD

"Lonesome Cypress, Los Lobos", plein air, 9x12

I just returned from a 10 day trip to California where I had the chance to spend a few days in beautiful Carmel, on the Monterrey peninsula. The area is truly spectacular and boasts scenery that is guaranteed to whet the appetite of any artist!

We spent an entire day at Point Lobos Nature Reserve which is just a few miles south of the center of town which is called Carmel by the Sea. People wax poetic about Point Lobos and I could truly understand why! We took a nature walk  and tour with a very knowledgeable professor who helped us understand the botany of the area. The Monterrey Cypress tree is indigenous to the area and painting a cypress at Point Lobos was a must-do on my bucket list of things to paint while in California!  There was an abundance of these short, squat, bent and magnificent trees everywhere throughout the Reserve but it didn't take me long to find an area where I had a magnificent view of a cypress on a ledge above the ocean. Here's a photo from our tour of an ancient cypress called the Old Veteran, that literally grows from the rocks on the cliff wall:

We packed a picnic lunch and after our walk through the Cypress Grove we went down to China Cove to have lunch  and enjoy the beautiful weather. Afterwards I went back to Headland Cove and painted for the next few hours.

Just as I was finishing up a lovely couple came by and asked if I would sell the painting to them. They told me that they are art collectors and that they enjoy the spontaneity of plein air painting. Their daughter is a professional artist as well. So I sold the painting to them on the spot and was happy to know I had one less wet painting to worry about transporting!

I didn't get a photo of the final version, but my hubby took the photo at the top when it was pretty close to being finished.

I do hope I'll have the chance to return to Point Lobos again in the future. It was an incredible spot to paint, picnic and just enjoy the magnificent hand of the Creator!

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"Thinkin' Spring", 6x6, oil, hyacinth, blue hyacinth, purple hyacinth, banana, small studies, quick studies, red apples

"Thinkin' Spring", 6x6 oil on panel

I di this quick little hyacinth study last night and the light was pretty poor. So I had to finish it up this morning.

Here's my reference:

 I'd never painted hyacinths before so this was a first. They are definitely tricky! However, the beautiful scent was a charming accompaniment to the soft music in the background as I painted.

If you are 'thinkin' spring', you can find these lovely little hyacinths in Trader Joes this week!

If you are interested in purchasing this little study, just send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

"In Between Customers", 12x12, Venice Italy, Venice canal, gondolier, Italian landscape, alla prima, impressionism,

SOLD

"In Between Customers", 12x12, oil on board

 This is an older painting that I took out today and reworked a bit. I had fun with this one when I first started it. It was  challenging because of the different perspectives, but I loved all the  contrasts between light and shadow as well.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please contact Galerie du Soleil.

Painting Intuitively- "Lake Path", plein air, 9x12, right brain, alla prima

"Lake Path", 9x12, oil on canvas.

I have been reading the book, "Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain" and doing the exercises in the book so that I can better see "Like an artist".

I know all about the right brain/left brain phenomenon and indeed an art teacher did her doctorate paper on our family back in the 1980's, deeming  that myself, my husband and three sons are all extremely right brained.  It certainly explains why none of us can put a toy or appliance together by reading the directions!

Yesterday, after painting "A Familiar Path" I decided to go home and use that plein air painting as a study for a more 'accomplished' painting in my studio. I believed I could improve upon it tremendously, since after all, I wouldn't be chasing the light, swatting mosquitoes, sweating like a hog-wart in the 90 degree heat and humidity, and fending off the red ants in the grass at my feet.

So I went home with my painting and used the same identical palette of color, the same identical support of the same size, and then proceeded to work on it for three and a half hours.

Since it took me only an hour and 15 minutes to paint "A familiar Path", one would think that the new painting would be clearly superior, right?

Well, I'll let you decide:

The painting on the left was the one done outdoors in  about an hour and 15 minutes. The one on the right was done in over three hours, working from the photo I'd taken of the scene as well as my plein air reference painting. Here's the photo of the scene:

So what did I learn from this little experiment?

I think I realized that painting outdoors is much more intuitive than analytical and for the most part requires a deep connection to the right brain lobe. When painting en plein air in full sunshine one has no time to think in depth about color selections, mixing, values or brushwork, it all just becomes an intuitive exercise in laying down the collective knowledge that you have accumulated throughout your years of painting and drawing.

The studio piece for me, was much more of an analytical exercise. Back home, I had the luxury of time to think about values, color mixing, underpainting, temperature and even whether I should use a brush or palette knife on a certain passage.

Was the outcome  of the second painting much different from the first even in light of the fact I was not dogged by heat or bugs?

Well, I don't think so. My husband actually told me he liked the plein air painting better than the studio piece. He felt it more accurately depicted the scene which he knows well.

In addition, as I worked on the studio painting I could see subtle changes that I could not correct in spite of the advantage I had in the studio. For example, I knew I had nailed the color of the path when I was out there in the field, yet back in the studio I just could not quite get it right because it was no longer there in front of me for me to mimic.

I am enjoying the book "Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain" and it has given me some insight into the way I learn and some of the problems I have encountered in my 6 years of painting. Hopefully, by the time I have finished reading it and doing the exercises, I'll at least "see like an artist".

Thanks for reading!

"A Familiar Path", plein air, 9x12, oil

I have spent a lot of time this past week thinking about my life as it relates to art. What I have discovered helped me realize that taking time for introspection can be a good thing once in a while.

First off, I could not believe how many people went out of their way to contact me out of concern for my doldrums. Collectors, friends, family, fellow artists, and church members all took a piece of their own precious time to write to me  or call me and try to help me sort out my feelings. Many said prayers. I was totally overwhelmed by all the love and support!

I realized many things over the past week, not the least of which is the fact that most of the people I know , even casual acquaintances, are beautiful, caring and love-filled people brimming with gifts to overflowing and giving of themselves when others are in need, either mentally, physically or spiritually.

I also realized after a week without a paintbrush that I would miss art tremendously if I gave it up altogether!

Most imprtantly, I realized that God has given me a gift, and He expects me to USE that gift!

First off, let me just say that I don't consider myself gifted. One of the reasons that I felt I should stop painting is because I feel extremely mediocre as artists go. That being said, no matter what you think of yourself it is not a good thing to underestimate how your art affects others! I found that out this week, and some of the messages from collectors literally brought me to tears. What I think of my art is irrelevant. If my art blesses others, than I am blessed, and that's the main point that I have been missing.

We all have different gifts. Some people have the gift of giving, others, the gift of music, others the gift of conversation. Still others have the gift of perseverance, writing, prayer, comedy, joy, hospitality, cooking and the gifts go on and on and on!

We are all created as individuals and if that were not the case it would be a boring world indeed!

Today, I picked myself up, went out into the heat and humidity and painted right down the street from my house. I painted for an hour and a half and felt very happy afterwards that I had made the effort. I also resolved to not change one single thing about the painting I had done when I got it home, something I am apt to do after painting plein air.

I am taking my painting journey a step at a time, but for now it was definitely a good day.

Thank-you friends for lifting me up. I love you all, and especially Diana and Carol, who know me even better than I know me!

"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!

"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!

"Summer in Zion", 8x10, oil on board by Maryanne Jacobsen, Zion National park oil painting, small painting of Zion, mountains, streams, rivers

SOLD

"Summer in Zion", 8x10, oil on board by Maryanne Jacobsen

During the recent plein air convention in Las Vegas, a theme that got a lot of attention was painting with a limited palette. For me, that's not easy because I just love color. I love looking at the fresh,  clean color when it comes out of the tube and I love seeing how it looks on the canvas.

Nonetheless, I took the limited palette challenge that's happening on Facebook and painted this with only 4 colors plus white. I used only white, Alizarin crimson, Cad yellow pale, ultramarine blue and windsor green.

While this experiment was challenging for me, I do like the color harmony it produced.

Purple Meets Orange". 16x12, oil on linen, orange, tangerine, purple vase, grapevine, grapes, still life, Maryanne Jacobsen art

SOLD

Purple Meets Orange". 16x12, oil on linen

I think this is one of my all-time favorite still lifes that I have yet painted. I loved the way the tangerine looked against the purple vase and how fluid the grape leaves came out. This painting won a People's Choice award and just sold through Gallerie Unique.

In other news, the opening gala of The Light Chasers Exhibit was a grand success. At least 500 people attended the gala on Friday night and every single painting in the show was a winner! I was proud to be part of such a talented group of plein air painters!

On Friday morning, I drove to Naples and had the opportunity to watch Calvin Liang do a wonderful demo at The Naples Pier. I had a few questions as did the other people in the workshop and Calvin was helpful in answering our questions. He stressed the four basics for a successful painting over and over again: form, color, values and edgework. He also stressed the importance of excellent drawing skill and he took a good deal of time to map out his composition with charcoal before actually starting to paint. Calvin is one of my all-time favorite artists and to watch him work was a thrill for me. It was an extremely hot and humid day, but it was worth standing on the beach to see this master at work!

The Show-Off", alla prima, impressionist landscape

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"The Show-Off", 5x7 oil on board

There's always one in every crowd!

"Just Leaving", 48x60, oil on board by Maryanne Jacobsen, great blue heron, Florida beach paintings, large paintings, beach path, impasto, alla prima,

SOLD"Just Leaving", 48x60, oil on board by Maryanne Jacobsen (Note: You can click on the image if you wish to see it better.)

This painting of a great blue heron on a Florida Beach was a recent commission that I rec'd from an agent, which had been requested by a large luxury hotel chain that I had worked with in the past. With a very short deadline requirement, I knew that I had to do something out of the ordinary in order to speed up the drying time of oil paint. So I decided to use Gamblin's Fast matte alkyd white and mix the white with all the other colors on my palette in order to get the painting to dry quickly. I don't really like the tacky consistency of the fast matte paint, but it does work really well for plein air paint-outs and if you are traveling and need the painting to dry quickly. So I decided it was the best route to take, as long as I remembered to mix all my colors with the whites! (Guess what, I didn't.)

Unfortunately, right after I rec'd a verbal approval from the company to proceed with the commission, I hurt my back pretty badly. In retrospect I think I should have realized that my back was more important than the commission, but being the conscientious individual that I am, I loaded up on Advil and tried to think positive thoughts as I climbed up and down on a footstool and tried to paint the top portion of the painting. Next I was afraid to adjust the easel when I needed to paint the lower part of the painting, since the board was quite heavy, so I sat on the footstool instead while I painted the lower third.

I must say that I have absolutely no idea how people sit while they paint! To me it is next to impossible. So with the restrictions that my back was imposing on me, and the bubble gum consistency of the fast matte paint to deal with, I was not a happy camper. In addition, I could not mix color the way that I normally do. Technically I knew that I need to keep my paint vibrant and pure in the foreground and then add white gradually, in order to make the landscape recede as I go into the background. But this rule could not apply now, since I needed to mix everything with white! It was a pure nightmare- painting this!

In the end, the painting came out just fine, but I'll never do a painting this large again. I am an alla prima artist, and there is simply no way to get a painting this size done in one session! Period. I struggled for the better part of a week which meant that the painting could not possibly dry in time for the required deadline! I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this experience, and I think that is a good thing. Here is the process that I used to complete the painting- the largest that i have ever done, by the way.

First I sketched out the composition and basic values on a sketch pad, making sure that I used the same ratio required in the finished painting- in this case 8 inches by 10 inches.


Then I primed the board, using three coats of gesso followed by a light sanding and then a coating of premium acrylic house paint on both sides of the board. The reason that I painted the back side of the board was because I knew a board this large would tend to warp if there was nothing to balance the weight on the front side. Although it will still warp, that can be controlled somewhat in the final framing. Next I applied a very thin glaze of Permanent rose and Indian yellow to the board, let it dry and then sketched out the design with a pastel pencil.


Knowing I needed to work from the back forward, I added the sky and the bird, working hard to keep the paint layer thin, but still vibrant. Using a thin glaze of ultramarine blue, I also added the shadow mass to the would-be foliage.


Next I added the water , which in this case happens to be the Gulf of Mexico. Since I was somewhat limited in terms of impasto, I had to be very careful in my creation of waves, which was pretty stifling to my palette knife style! I discovered a few days later that there were some areas of the water in which I had forgotten to add the fast matte white. Bummer. It wouldn't dry!


Then I worked on the foliage, which was very challenging with all the restrictions that I had.

I waited until the painting had been dry a few days and then I went back in and added the things that it needed- depth of color and some additional natural growth to the foliage.


In the end, I am glad I attempted this in spite of all the difficulties. We always learn from new experiences, and working this big, with a fast-drying white, really showed me that different sizes and different types of paint require different techniques that can be quite challenging!

Blue Cap, 14x18, oil on canvas

"Blue Cap", 14x18, oil on canvas

This was my first time back to the Venice Art Center's life study group since June. We paint from live models for 2 and a half hours on Fridays and I don't really know why I took the summer off, but I did. It was good to be back today, and the model is an artist himself. He sat for us and painted the entire time we painted him. How cool is that?

"My Serenity Garden", 12x12, oil on wrapped canvas, by Maryanne Jacobsen. impressionist garden paintings, flowers, wine, big hats, hat ladies, sunshin

SOLD
"My Serenity Garden", 12x12, oil on wrapped canvas, by Maryanne Jacobsen

This painting evolved slowly over this past week. Whew!

I am definitely not used to working on the same painting for days on end! I am more of an alla prima painter, but this one was hard for me to paint for some reason. Perhaps because it was actually a self-portrait, with yours truly becoming the subject of my painting.

Self-portraits are tricky. One always wants to bring out the best in one’s own appearance while still staying true to the design and subject matter! Sigh.

“Paint what you see!”

That’s what all the experts say, and since I have been reading Richard Schmidt’s wonderful book, “Alla Prima” since I came back from the Portrait Society of America’s conference last week, I decided to take his advice to heart.

Unfortunately, I have very bad eyesight and so painting what I see is not always very clear for either me or the viewer. I try not to think about my eyesight very much or I’ll get depressed.

I feel very grateful that I have had so many wonderful opportunities to engage my passions over the years. Just recently, in addition to receiving a fabulous scholarship to attend the PSOA conference in Atlanta, I also won a first place ribbon last month in an exhibit, and just received representation at the drop dead beautiful Gallerie Unique in the exclusive Bell Tower Mall! So I am definitely not complaining!

My husband snapped this photo of me in our garden a few weeks ago. Actually he snapped a number of photos of me in the garden that day. His photos that day proved to be paint worthy.

I painted this little guy quickly- without thinking too much about the result. In the end, I loved the expressive result and the painting was quickly acquired by a repeat collector. So I decided to try a different pose from the same batch of photos.

This one I’m much less sure of. In wanting to make it Right, perhaps I made it Wrong.

At any rate, I may work on it some more in upcoming days , or maybe I won’t. At any rate, it is not for sale at this time, but please tell me what you think about it!

If you are interested in this piece, please send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com, or visit my website at Maryanne Jacobsen Fine Art if you wish to see more of my original oil paintings.

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Sea Oats at Siesta Key-Plein air, beach view, sea oats, sand dunes, Florida beaches, top 10 vacation destinations, sea grapes, white sand beaches

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"Sea Oats at Siesta Key-Plein Air", 12x9, oil on Raymar panel (Note: You can click on the image to see the detail better!)

This morning was a perfect day to paint outdoors in Florida! The temperature was perfect and there was a slight breeze rippling through the sea oats just enough to create a delightfully subtle movement throughout the scene. I limited myself to only an hour and a half of plein air painting so that the light would stay somewhat stable. I finished all but the foreground sea oats there at the beach, and I added the oats with a couple quick strokes of the palette knife when I got home. I am very happy with this painting as it is a breakthrough for me-combining my attempts to become more accomplished with a brush with my palette knife skills in order to have the excitement of palette knife texture combined with the beauty of blended brushstrokes. I also incorporated my knowledge of color with a limited palette in order to create a painting that is more in keeping with nature's true colors without going tonalist.

Although there were a few people on the beach this morning, I decided to keep the scene simplistic and omitted the people from the scene. It always amazes me when I get home and look at my photographs of the scene that I have painted. They never look anything like what I had seen while painting! For this reason, I cannot emphasize enough (to novice painters) the importance of painting from life!

Here is the scene that I painted today, and a quick shot of me with what my Jewish friend Sally refers to as Hadassah arms flailing around the canvas.



Just one week ago, I painted outdoors on Venice's beach at Sharky's Restaurant on the pier. The weather was dreadfully cold and windy that day after Hurricane Ida had passed through the area. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two paintings side by side to see what a difference there is in light temperature only a week apart! (see below).

Venice Beach and Siesta Key are less than 30 minutes apart, by the way. Siesta Key to the north has been consistently rated in the top ten of American vacation destinations in recent years. While Venice beach is a bit more relaxed and attracts less tourists, it does not have the white sand of Siesta Key. What it does have is fantastic fishing and sharks teeth! More about that later;0)

Check out the difference in light temperature below!

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