"The Beach House", 16x20, oil on panel , Florida Keys, Key West, paintings of Florida gardens, Duck Key, Hawks Cay Resort, tropical gardens, palette knife paintings, impressionism, hibiscus, beach house

 "The Beach House", 16x20, oil on panel (Note: please click on the image to see the detail)

Quite a while back, we had a family vacation in the Florida Keys. When your kids are guys and young adults, it's hard to interest them into taking a vacation with you. Right?

But upon proposing the Florida Keys, the guys all changed their minds.

In case you are out of touch with civilization, "The Florida Keys are a string of tropical islands stretching about 120 miles off the southern tip of the U.S. state of Florida, between the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. They’re known as a destination for fishing, boating, snorkeling and scuba diving. The southernmost city of Key West is famous for Duval Street’s many bars, Mallory Square’s nightly Sunset Celebration and the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum." ― Google

Although the ultimate destination was Key West, accommodations there were a bit pricey for a family of 5 adults, so we elected to rent a villa on Duck Key instead. Duck Key is located about in the middle of the island chain, and was named by British General George Gauld  in his chart of the Florida Keys. The name comes from the shape of the island, which resembles a duck's head when viewed from above.

We stayed at the Hawk's Cay resort, and one morning I took a walk and came upon this pretty house with a garden full of hibiscus and other flowers. I came across the image recently when looking at old pictures and decided to paint it.

I took some liberties with the colors but overall I was pleased with the outcome. The painting was done mainly with a palette knife and has thick impasto throughout. If you are interested in purchasing this painting, here is the link to my website.

Thanks for visiting my website. Feel free to leave a comment as blogs can get very lonely!

"View from the Porch", 16x20, painting of flowers, hibiscus, red flowers, apples

"View from the Porch", 16x20

Available through Galerie du Soleil. Contact them at (239) 417-3450 for additional information about this painting.

"Simple Abundance", 16x20, oil on linen, hibiscus, red hibiscus, apple, green apple, fish shack

"Simple Abundance", 16x20, oil on linen
Note: Click on the image to see it better!

A few days ago I picked some hibiscus from the garden and arranged them in a vase with some apples. After working at it for a few hours, I was almost finished the flowers and thought they were looking pretty good. Unfortunately, I neglected to take a photo of the set-up and to my dismay the next morning the flowers were all curled up and wilted! So I went back into the garden and brought in some more and tried to set them up in the same way. No chance! It is amazing how every single flower is extremely unique, and since hibiscus is a very complex flower to paint I began feeling frustrated.  I had to basically scrape out most of what I had done the day before and start over. This time I did take a photo of the flowers knowing I'd have to keep working the painting the next day.

Since yesterday was Valentine's Day, I think I had red on the brain. So I added the background after painting the flowers using an old red fish shack from Peggy's Cove. I kind of liked the idea of putting tropical flowers in a northern setting! It was a quirky idea that grew on me as I went along. I added other objects as I went along and finally today I called it done. It was a challenging painting for me, but worth the effort in the end.

Quote:

Life is a flower of which love is the honey. – Victor Hugo

If you’ve seen a Hummingbird suck the nectar out of a Hibiscus flower, you will know what Hugo means when he refers to life as a ‘flower’ and love as ‘honey’.

Hopelessly in Love with my Apples

SOLD

"Hopelessly in love with my apples", 9x12, oil on Raymar panel

I've had the flu for the past few days and haven't felt like doing much of anything. This evening I finally pulled enough strength together to put up my easel in my studio-which happens to be my kitchen. Having accomplished that much, I started rummaging around for something to paint. I clipped a flower out of the garden and poured some maple syrup into a glass to make it look like I had some good cognac on hand. The only thing missing was the apples and i have plenty of them in my frig since I love apples and peanut butter for a snack. In spite of a decent set-up, the painting got off to a slow start.

Here's my set-up:


For those artists with a studio, aren't you lucky?

Anyhow, the painting is finished and it looks great. The flower looks like as though it has a little face that is staring down at the apples with a sort of wistful expression, hence the title, "Hopelessly in love with my Apples." a Painting a day, Daily painters, original art , affordable art, impressionist paintings,paintings of apples, romantic still life paintings,impressionist oil still life,colorist art, impastopaintings, art for people who like color

Plein air hibiscus

SOLD "Towards the Light", 8x10, oil on canvas panel

This pretty hibiscus was painted en plein air from this cutie in my garden. I used a palette knife for everything but the thingie sticking out of the flower-whatever that's called.

a Painting a day, Daily painters, original art , affordable art, impressionist floral paintings,home decor paintings, peach hibiscus paintings ,cottage art,colorist art,palette knife paintings.