"Dappled Morning"-12x16, oil, Brandywine Conservancy, Farm to Table Plein Air, Land Art Events, Chadds Ford, Pa., plein Air. MAryanne Jacobsen art, red barn, Chester County Pennsylvania paintings, impressionism, dappled light

"Dappled Morning"-12x16, oil

I have been attempting to document on this blog the paintings from my recent trip to Pennsylvania, in which I am painting as a juried artist in the Farm to Table Plein Air event, which will culminate October 26th at Rose Hill Farm with a palette to palate extravaganza open to the public. The event will benefit the Brandywine Conservancy, and tickets to the event will be available in September.

The above painting was painted on the first morning at Fenton Farm in Chadds Ford. I had blogged previously about how much I enjoyed painting at this gorgeous property. This first morning I felt like I was in heaven. Birds were chirping all around me, roosters were crowing and a gentle waterfall was cascading over the stone wall at the entrance to the property.  The weather was as perfect as an artist could want,  and our hostess, Mrs. Fenton, is an absolutely lovely woman, who went out of her way to be helpful and make all the artists feel at home.

The painting in progress........

There was dappled light everywhere , and the challenge for me was to make notes on my drawing so I would remember which areas were in light and which were in shadow as the light changed. There was a lot going on in this scene, and I had to keep editing and deciding what to leave in, and what to leave out.

I was almost at the point of calling the painting done, when the tree above me suddenly decided to rain down a pollen deluge! Within minutes, my painting was covered with little greens specks!

Not sure if I got them all out or not, but whatever remains will add some character to the work, I'm sure!

To learn more about Farm to Table Plein Air, Land Art Events, and the Brandywine Conservancy, please follow this link to my website.

"Summer Days", 12x16, oil on linen, paintings of girls, dappled light, gardens, girls in hats, books, summer gardens

"Summer Days", 12x16, oil on linen

I have been working on this painting for almost two weeks now, off and on. I let it dry, look at it some more, see flaws and jump back into it. I actually almost thought it was done today until I got it up on the monitor and saw problems with the folds on her skirt.

Such is the world of an artist. We love our craft and sometimes we hate it. Most of the time we love it, though.

I think.

The thing that is very cool abut this painting is that I used a whole different palette in it and ended up liking it!!!!!! Colors I normally never have used or used only irregularly in the past. Earth tones.

I'm realizing the value of earth tones in mixing skin colors. So much easier! Yes!

So anyway, here's the colors I used on this one and when it is finally and truly finished I will post it again!- Indian yellow, cad yellow pale, yellow ochre, cad orange, Napthol red, (thank-you Lori Putnam!) terra rosa, alizarin crimson, Ultramarine blue and  transparent oxide red. And white. Of course.

"Summer Days" is available through Gallery 444.

"Red Door, Legare Street", 12x16, oil on board, Charleston, South Carolina scenes, architecture, homes, beautiful homes in Charleston, red door, dappled light

SOLD

"Red Door, Legare Street", 12x16, oil on board

While we were in Charleston for the AIS show, my hubby and I took a horse and buggy ride through the streets of Charleston. Charleston is a beautiful city ,and this was our second carriage ride through the historic  streets of Charleston. I remembered many of the same houses from a few years back, but one in particular caught my eye.

As a lover of color, I was smitten with this beautiful house at #10 Legare Street. Not only is the architecture gorgeous, but since it had a red door  I knew I would have to go back and take a photo of it, so I could paint it.

As luck would have it, there were beautiful dappled shadows across the building in the afternoon light and a little kitty was passing through as well!

We caught a quick photo, and that served as the reference for this painting. I decided to use Kenn Erroll Backhaus's palette for this painting, since I so loved his painting that was in the AIS show and the building was sort of reminiscent of that. Being a wishful thinker, I had hoped that somehow, if I used his palette, my painting would come out as lovely as his!

Okay, I have quite a way to go yet, but overall, I was not too displeased with the painting. One thing that stood in my mind as I painted the dappled shadows was something Kenn told us during the workshop. He said to be very careful that you show that you are depicting either a THING, or the EFFECT of light on the thing. Keeping this in mind, I tried to keep the shadows soft, to create an effect, rather than a thing.

Thanks Kenn!

Happily, I found out this week, that my painting, "Dancing Queens and a Pear" sold on the opening night of the show. What a wonderful event it was and I was so pleased to be part of it.

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

"Three Doors Down", 14x11, oil on linen

"Three Doors Down", 14x11, oil on linen

The house with the pink bougainvillea wrapping around the column is just three doors down from where I live. The owners obviously have a green thumb becuase the whole property is gorgeous to look at. I had been wanting to paint this bougainvillea for a while now, and so yesterday, I finally asked permission to stand on the lawn and paint the house.

Today I went down and spent an hour and a half painting the front porch. After that, I decided the light was changing too quickly so I finished it up in my studio. I am going to try it again on a different day because Is struggled with the dappled light on the door and walkway and need to practice  doing it more often.

"The Old Springhouse", 16x12, oil on gessoboard, by Maryanne Jacobsen, palette knife landscape, Pennsylvania springhouse, old buildings, impressionism

"The Old Springhouse", 16x12, oil on gessoboard by Maryanne JAcobsen

This is a painting of an old springhouse that was up the road from my last house in Chester Springs, Pa. The building may be old but it has a tremendous amount of character, and with the dappled light cascading over it, I knew immediately that I wanted to paint it.

In case you are not familiar with what a springhouse is, here's a definition from Wikipedia: A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building used for refrigeration once commonly found in rural areas before the advent of electric refrigeration. It is usually a one-room building constructed over the source of a spring. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature inside the spring house throughout the year. In settings where no natural spring is available, another source of natural running water, such as a small creek or diverted portion of a larger creek, may be used. The main use of a spring house is for the long-term storage of food that would otherwise spoil, such as meat, fruit or dairy products.

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