Tahitian Moon- My first oil painting-WILD!

"Tahitian Moon", 22x28, oil on wrapped canvas, with sides painted

This is the first original oil painting that I ever did by myself, after buying my oil paints back in January of 2006. I have never offered it for sale before for sentimental reasons. To celebrate
a New Year of painting opportunities, I have decided to offer this painting for sale. PLease contact me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting.

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The Pansy Party

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The Pansy Party, 16x20 oil on wrapped canvas
"Purple flowers of velvet so suffering From your soft eyes the color of pansies."
John Antoine Nau


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"Raah"

SOLD"Raah", 8x10, oil on canvas

My friend Joyce recently told me that the Hebrew word "raah' means to see. She said it's the kind of "seeing" that God did when He made creation and He saw that it was good.. It's not just a physical seeing. It's a spiritual seeing. It's a gift from God and not from ourselves when we can see this way.

Painting this rose was a revelation for me in many ways. My sweet friend Holly had sent me the picture of the rose and had encouraged me to try to paint it. But I didn't want to. Holly knows everything there is to know about roses. That's what she does for a living. So I knew that she would look at my rose with an expert eye, and I didn't want to fall short. In the end, I forced myself to paint it in a realistic style, which does not come natural or easy for me, but which is the style most befitting a rose this lovely.

Trying to render this rose with accuracy was hard, but it forced me to see in a whole new way. I had to study that rose and every single petal it contained in order to see it with brand new eyes. I discovered that the rose is an incredibly complex thing to paint. It has multiple petals, and each and every petal has it's own set of curving planes, some parts of the petal turning towards the light, some parts facing away from the light, some catching reflected light and some catching highlights. It took me a long time to paint this rose. But in the end I was glad that I forced myself to do it, as it enabled me to see the beauty and complexity of the rose in a whole different way- much different from the typical abstract palette knife strokes I generally use to haphazardly render one of God's most gorgeous creations.

This is Thanksgiving week. I give thanks to Holly for encouraging me to do something that I didn't want to do. And I give thanks to my friend Joyce for helping me understand difficult Bible concepts. Most of all, I give thanks to God for helping me see many things in ways that I had never seen before. And in enabling me to paint this rose, God has given me a new confidence in my painting abilities.

This rose will be a Christmas gift this year, so it is not for sale. But thank-you for visiting my blog.

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!

Bittersweet Memories

SOLD"Bittersweet Memories", 12x16, oil on Claussens linen

I named the painting "Bittersweet Memories" in keeping with the dramatic essence of the piece. The elements of an empty goblet, a lemon and peel, and blood red roses set against a midnight backdrop add romance, intrigue and a little mystery to this elegant still life. I have always been idealistic in a romantic and impractical way and so is this still life painting, if you think about it. The glass is empty, and all that remains are elements that are sour and thorny. Nevertheless, I didn't see it that way when I painted it. I saw a romantic grouping of beautifully colored and variantly shaped elements placed under a mysterious (chiaroscuro) light setting.

Summer Poppies in Umbria

SOLDSummer Poppies in Umbria, 8x10, oil on wrapped canvas

I am trying to get back into my groove. I like the way this has come out. I did something like this a while back and it sold within a few hours. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this little gem to sell in this crummy economic environment. It was painted with only a palette knife and it has nice texture. The sides of the canvas are painted to match the scene so a frame isn't necessary.

Tomorrow is the last day of my workshop. I hope I get a successful painting out of it.

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Impressionist Pansies, 16x20

Impressionist pansies, 16x20 , oil on wrapped canvas

I finally forced myself to paint today. I've been in a real slump lately, and the only thing that helped me paint this was my Abba music. My favorite Abba song is Chiquitita, though it's a little silly that I picked that one since I've never really had any close girlfriends. Click the link and check out this gorgeous slide show, accompanied by the Chiquitita lyrics. You can also listen in Spanish, which is the version I personally prefer, but it's up to you! Thanks to whoever put this together!

Anyhow, I had to laugh when I went rummaging around in my paint box looking for dioxide purple. I almost never use that color and I had a tough time finding it! I guess it reminds me of my years in Catholic school as a young girl. Purple was the color of Lent and the connotation in my mind was of sorrow, though actually it's about atonement for one's sins. Truthfully, Easter is the best of all Christian holidays and If I remember correctly the priests switch their vestments to white from the purple on Easter morning. Go figure. At any rate, I rarely paint with purple, though I do love magenta, which is purple's warm side.

Not that any of this has anything to do with the above painting. Every now and then it's good to change your palette. These cool colors work in my present frame of mind, obviously. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow and have a fervent desire to paint a big red and orange landscape. We'll see...

Bistro Bouquet, 12x16

"Bistro Bouquet" 12x16, oil on Claussens linen panel

I bought a couple bunches of sunflowers and roses the other day, so that I could paint from life. I noticed today that the flowers were drooping a bit so I decided to paint another still life with them, while they still had good energy in them. In yesterday's still life, (which I titled "Bellissima World"), I utilized the white ceramic pitcher that you see in this picture:

Today I decided to substitute the ceramic white pitcher with something blue and so "Bistro Bouquet" was the result. I painted this with just a palette knife, no brush, so I used a lot more paint. There's great impasto in both pieces, however.

I've decided not sell this one at this point in time, but rather save it for a show or gallery show.

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Red Roses for a Blue Lady, 18x24

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"Red Roses for a blue lady", 18x24, oil on linen

I've really been enjoying working on this size canvas, so I bought a few more over the weekend. I can't believe the price of oil-primed linen, though. $40 for this size. Ouch! Is this yet another way that energy inflation is creeping into everything?

I've also been having fun with this abstract floral format, but I promise that this is the last rose painting I'll be doing for a while!

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Tranquility, final, 24x36

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"Tranquility", 24x36, oil on canvas

I put a few final touches on this today, and I'm going to call it done. The glazes added some subtle depth which is very pretty, but hard to see through a computer monitor.

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The Girl in the Red unitard

"The Girl in the Red Unitard", 12x16, oil on linen (Raymar panel)

I was delighted to be awarded second place in the North Port Art Guild's "Faces in Places" portrait exhibit for my painting, "The Girl in the Red Unitard". I was also told that I only missed the People's Choice Award by one vote for "The Daisy Girl" at today's opening reception.

"The Daisy Girl", 12 x16, oil on linen (Raymar panel)

What a nice way to start the new fall art season!

Tranquility revised, 24x36

Sold"Tranquility", 24x36, oil on canvas.



I added a strong focal point to the painting by putting in a clump of trees into the background, which you can see if you compare the two pictures.

I also strengthened shadows and water reflections, though it's hard to tell from the photo. I photographed it this morning out on the lanai, but unfortunately there are still tell-tale shadows running on a slant from left to right on the photo where the metal overhead grids of my lanai were casting shadows. The painting is much more dynamic in person.

I'll be adding a final glaze for depth and to unite the colors next week, when the painting is more dry. If you would like to purchase this painting , please email me.

Midnight Roses

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Midnight Roses, 4x6, oil on wrapped canvas

Here's another little miniature that came out rather nicely. I don't use cool colors as often as I should, and this was a nice break from my usual warm palette.

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La Vie en Rose

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"La Vie en Rose", 6x8, oil on canvas panel

I just finished this one, and decided to name it La Vie en Rose, which means life in pink, or roughly, "Life through rose-colored glasses." There is a glare on the vase and on the right hand side of the painting that is from the light, but is not actually on the painting.

If you would like to purchase this painting, please send me an emaila t maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

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Marigolds in a Blue Vase

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"Marigolds in a Blue Vase", 4x6, oil on wrapped canvas

I picked these from the garden and they looked so pretty in the blue vase that I decided to paint them!