"Vineyard in Tuscany", 6x12, oil on cradled Ampersand panel, vineyard art, Tuscany, La Dolce Vita, Palette knife painting, impasto, Italian landscape

 "Vineyard in Tuscany", 6x12 x2, oil on cradled Ampersand panel.

This painting came together in my mind before it made it to the canvas. I decided I wanted soft, happy colors, and thick, thick paint. The result is an exuberantly colored vineyard set within dreamy mountains.

I applied much of the paint with a palette knife, creating, luscious impasto. This painting is on cradled board that is 2 inches in depth. It can be hung on the wall with or without a frame.

To purchase this painting, please visit my website here.

"Peaceful Cove", 8x10, oil, Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, palette knife painting, texture, clouds, ocean, fish shack, blue, red

 "Peaceful Cove", 8x10, oil

It's been awhile since I posted. Without going into detail, the past few months have been really hard on many levels. So I was grateful to be able to produce anything after all these weeks.

I used mostly a palette knife and there's some sweet texture in this little piece.

It's a peaceful scene of a little red fish shack up in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. I've painted this scene before, and it brings back positive memories for me of clean fresh air, long vistas of sand and sea and the bracing smell of salt, sea, and the ice cold Atlantic.

If you are interested in this painting, please send me a message at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

"Bougainvillea Riot", 11x14, oil on panel, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Palette knife painting, colorist art, Maryanne Jacobsen art, The Mission Walker, Edie Littlefield Sundby, Hurricane Irma, Historic California Mission Trail, impressionist art

"Bougainvillea Riot", 11x14, oil on panel

Well we weathered Hurricane Irma without losing much, except our energy and a little patience.

One thing that the storm made me realize, as we boarded up the house and made plans to evacuate was this- I have too many paintings in my house!

I figured that they wouldn't last if they were on the walls and a 150 mph wind gust tore off our roof. They also wouldn't have faired well during a storm surge, especially since we are so close to the Gulf of Mexico. So I had a really hard time trying to figure out what to do with the many paintings that I have in my home. In the end, I vowed to offer some of my older works for sale through my blog after the storm passed.

This is a painting that I did quite a few years ago, in the days when I only used a palette knife. Many collectors prefer my older work to some of my newer stuff, so here's a chance to own one of my older works  that may have missed the cut in terms of shows or galleries.

This is a painting of the courtyard at the incredibly beautiful Mission San Juan Capistrano in California. I have done paintings of this mission many, many times, and the truth is that I never offered this particular painting to the public before because I think I forgot that I had it! Anyway, the storm helped me find it again, lol.

I have been reading "The Mission Walker", by Edie Littlefield Sundby. It is an amazing testament of faith and endurance that this woman, given only three months to live due to gallbladder cancer, refused to accept her diagnosis and went on to not only recover, but to walk the entire 800 mile Historic California Mission Trail! I have always loved the California Missions and have visited half a dozen of them while in California, but this book and this brave woman's story have re-affirmed my own confidence in the peace and serenity that these beautiful places imbibe into the spirits of those who partake of their beauty.

So I am now determined to paint a few more paintings of the missions, and hopefully do justice to their beauty along the way.

Thanks for your prayers during Hurricane Irma. It was a wild ride, but we are stronger in faith and happier to be alive now!

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

"Time to Go", 12x16, oil, great blue heron, paintings of large birds, cranes, Florida birds, Florida beaches, southwest florida oil paintings, palette knife painting

SOLD

"Time to Go", 12x16, oil

When I first moved to Florida 10 years ago, I was mezmerized by the birds. Huge creatures they were- great blue herons, egrets, sandhill cranes- many of them so tall that you felt  you could practically lean over and have a conversation with them when you met them on the street. And yes, you do meet them on the street . They hang out on cars, boats, street corners and walk through your gardens mid-morning and stop and look at you as if you are their best friends.

Which in fact we hope we are! The great blue herons are one of my favorite big birds and they are very dramatic when they are in flight. Their wing span is expansive and their flight is elegant. The sandhill cranes mate for life and have a habitat right in my neighborhood. We love watching them mate each spring and produce offspring. They walk around the neighborhood proudly- the whole family, usually two little ones and their parents. When the little pups grow big- usually in about 6 months- they fly off in search of mates and so the cycle begins anew.

The scene above was painted at Venice Beach. I added the great blue heron afterwards thanks to some photos I took with my camera.

I hope to paint more big birds in the future. It always fills my heart with joy to see them and it's one of the special perks of living in southwest Florida!

"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.