"Ukrainian Girl", 16x20, oil on linen

"Ukrainian Girl", 16x20, oil on linen

This painting is currently on exhibit at Art Center Sarasota's "Red Hot" exhibit. She is shown in her native costume, and I added some landscape effects in the background in keeping with the landscape of the Ukraine. I painted her last spring and was unsure whether or not I had done her justice. I think that over time I have seen my portraits grow more mature, and while i was happy with this painting at the time that I created it, I now see things about it that could have been improved. That, is a good thing!

I am hoping that David Leffel's workshop this coming week, will help me attain a new level in my portrait and still life paintings! We'll see!

If you would like to purchase "Ukrainian Girl" , please send me an email and include your purchase offer, at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

Have a good week!

Mission Magic, 14x11, oil on linen

"Mission Magic", 14x11, oil on linen
Note: This looks really lovely in person, but the camera does not capture it!

I made some changes to the mission painting that I did last week, thanks to wonderful suggestions by my good friend and wonderful fellow artist, Julie Hanson. She showed me how to make believable shadows, something that has eluded me forever. Julie was my first teacher when I started painting four years ago, and I can thank her for everything that I know about color!

On a completely different tact, I am going to be taking an all -week workshop with acclaimed painter David Leffel next week, and I am so excited! The only problem with this is that in addition to the cost of the workshop (not cheap!) , I had to go out and buy a bunch of colors that I never use like venetian red and burnt umber and raw sienna and yellow ochre and naples yellow. So the workshop has cost me a small fortune and that is why I need to sell some more paintings this week! I am so anxious to learn how to have more finesse in my brushwork, and I am hoping that I can learn that from David, whose approach to brushwork is impeccable! So if you start seeing paintings next week that look pretty foreign to my usual genre, just know that I am on the road to improving my craft! I will never give up palette knife painting, however, but I do want to be more accomplished with a brush because I love to do portraits! So we shall see!

More about the mission painting: The first time I saw Mission San Juan Capistrano was about three years ago and it was love at first sight! The love affair is still going on strong and I doubt that this will be my last paitning of the mission either!

Here is the photo that I captured this past summer at a revisit to Capistrano:

The bougainvillea was in full bloom and my only disappointment was that there was so much of it, that it hid the bells that are in the courtyard with the fountain. The wall on the left hand side is part of the old adobe ruins, much of which was destroyed in an earthquake years ago. The yucca in the foreground made a nice contrast against all the pinks in the bougainvillea.

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Plein Air and More-new exhibit of plein air paintings

SOLD"Lake of the Woods", 16x12, oil on masonite

The painting above is one of the paintings that I have on exhibit at The North Port Library with 15 other plein air artists from the Southwest Florida area. The exhibit, titled "Plein Air and More" includes the works of popular award-winning plein air artists Ron Sanders, Susan Covert, Marilyn Howard Flynn, Karen Hitt, Clare Harvey and others. The reception for this month long exhibit will be next Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 PM. The above painting can be purchased through me, but must hang throughout the month of February when the show will be open to the public.



Please email me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com with questions about the exhibit, or to purchase this painting.

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"Red and Gold in Blue", 12x16, oil on linen (Raymar) panel

"Bistro Bouquet", 12x16, oil on linen (Raymar) panel

This painting was done with palette knife only and has passages of thick, colorful impasto. I had a lot of fun with this one, as I became comfortable with where I where I was going with it.

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Mr. Clucky in Miami,12x16

SOLD"Mr. Clucky in Miami", 16x12, oil on canvas

I was pleased to find out that my lucky Mr. Clucky was chosen one of the TOP 100 in Paint America's annual national competition. So he'll be going on tour this year around the United States!

Last week Mr. Clucky also took a ribbon at The Windsor at Lakewood Ranch's third annual invitational art show , and he was juried into the American Impressionist Society's annual exhibit last fall, so he has been a good luck charm for me.


To see more of the top 100 winners, please visit Paint America's website here.

Poetic Mission-Final, 14x11, oil on linen, Mission San Juan Capistrano painting

SOLD"Poetic Mission", 14x11, oil on linen

After selling my first (and favorite) Mission Capistrano painting last week, I knew I had to paint another one like it. This one has more subtle colors, as the light temperature the day that I took the reference photo was softer than the first time I had visited the mission. The glorious thing about Mission Capistrano is that no matter how many times one visits the mission, the scenery is ever-changing! The angel trumpets were blooming during this visit, but I felt that by adding them I'd be giving the viewer too much information, so I decided to leave the vines out. That will present an opportunity for another mission painting!

As I was painting this one, my husband remarked to me that the book he was reading by Anne Rice called Angel Time features the old Mission prominently. So I have decided to read the book, too. Anne's description of New Orleans in her "Lasher" series, was mesmerizing, so I am anxious to see what she has done in her book with the Mission.

If you are unfamiliar with the beautiful Capistrano Mission in San Juan Capistrano , California, this old Spanish mission is a site where the swallows return annually to migrate in March, on St. Joseph's feast day. Be sure to visit the mission, (regardless of your religion), as it is a place of unbelievable beauty and serenity!



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"Mission San Juan Capistrano", 10x8, oil on linen

SOLD
"Mission San Juan Capistrano", 10x8, oil on linen

This is an older painting, but it happens to be one of those paintings that I just didn't really want to ever sell. The beautiful mission San Juan Capistrano is near and dear to my heart for reasons that I won't go into here, but the fact of the matter is that this painting sold today, and I do hope that it will bring much warmth into the home of the lady and gentleman in Maine who bought it!

It is funny how we sometimes become so attached to paintings that they become difficult to actually sell, sort of like saying farewell to a special friend who is moving to a far-away place. Although we live in a small world these days- with the Internet and such, it is still a burden to know that someone or something special in our little lives is even just a few plane hours away!

Enough of this! It has been a very good week for me!

I won two ribbons for my art this week in two separate shows and also sold a beloved painting as well. I suppose I should be happy as artists can call themselves happy- yet what really is happiness other than contentment?

I am trying to be contented... but life is hectic and the winds keep blowing.

I am hoping to start painting regularly again, so please stay tuned!

My next painting? Something to replace a spot that is very special to me! Can you guess?

"Ancient Village-Peru", 16x12. oil on masonite

"Ancient Village-Peru", oil on masonite, 16x12

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Cloudy Day at Sharky's on the Beach- plein air, alla prima, by Maryanne Jacobsen

SOLD"Cloudy Day at Sharky's on the beach", 12x9, oil on Raymar panel


As you can probably tell, the light temperature was very gray the day that I painted this, with a cool light and limited value and contrast range. What was very cool about this day, however, were the whitecaps on the water, (an aftermath of Hurricane Ida), which are atypical for the Gulf Coasts' typically serene aquamarine waters.

When painting plein air, I happen to love days like this, when you don't have to chase the light every fifteen minutes, and deal with the enormous range in values that you can get in Florida on very sunny days.

The above painting was done a few months ago, and I am reposting it because I have simply not had the time to paint much recently. I am hoping that will change soon! Last night was a reception for the "Wide World of Animals" exhibit at the North Port Art Center. I was very pleased to receive a third place ribbon in this show, for "Warm and Cozy" as the exhibit was stellar and the competition was fierce.



If you wish to purchase "Cloudy Day at Sharky's", please contact Leah Sherman at Collector's Gallery and Framery in downtown Venice at 941-488-3029.



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Tea Time, 12x16, oil on canvas

"Tea Time", 16x12, oil on wrapped canvas-framed as shown

This is one of five paintings that I have on exhibit at the third annual Windsor at Lakewood Ranch's invitational art exhibit. Top artists from around the state are invited to exhibit each year, and this year I made the list!
If you are in the Sarasota area, the exhibit will run through the end of the month. The Windsor at Lakewood Ranch is located right off University Blvd, just minutes from the airport and Ringling Museum. A Soiree will be held on Thursday evening from 7 to 9. Come meet the artists and see this beautiful exhibit!

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Red Lipstick- 16x12, oil on linen

"Red Lipstick", 16x12, oil on linen

This painting was started last spring. The young woman who modeled for the session had just graduated from The Ringling College of Art and Design, and I had a feeling that she had more important things on her mind than modeling, the day that she modeled for this painting. She was a lovely girl, with a China doll complexion, and my only regret was that I didn't have more time to paint her from life.

I don't like to try to finish portraits without the model right in front of me, but since this one no longer lives in the area, I decided to have a go at it from the photo that I'd taken that day, since I had a good start anyway. You can follow the progression of the painting below...

Just for fun, I entered this one into a competition- I don't do portraits often enough to consider my work refined, but I also think that I have a knack for painting people nonetheless. We'll see...







"Red Lipstick", 16x12, oil on linen

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Lake of the Woods-plein air, alla prima, Florida landscape

"Lake of the Woods", 12x9, oil on canvas

I painted this little study of a lake in my neighborhood recently, before the weather turned bitterly cold! We Floridians do some physical adapting when we move down to Florida from the north- our bodies learn how to shed heat effectively so that we can better deal with the hot subtropical climate. Unfortunately, when we get cold snaps like the present one, our bodies are less able to adjust. I have been wanting to do some plein air painting, but it looks as though this week is going to be another rough one for my thin skin!

The above painting was done in pure color with a palette knife only. This is definitely one of those impressionist paintings that makes absolutely no sense until you step backwards a few yards! I made the reddish/pink roof the focal point in what was otherwise a low contrast painting that was done in mostly mid value range and used color to turn the planes. I finished it in the one hour and although the light had already changed from when I arrived, I made certain not to meddle with the first notes and that way I kept out of trouble. When I got home I wanted to work it some more in order to refine the shapes and details, but I resisted the temptation in order to keep the freshness and spontaneity of the alla prima painting. So I signed it and called it done. I'm looking forward to more plein air painting in warmer days to come!

Here was the scene that I painted in my southwest Florida neighborhood:




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"Warm and Cozy", 11x14, oil on linen, paintings of cats, tabby cats, hearth fire, copper pots

"Warm and Cozy", 11x14, oil on linen panel-Note- This painting is not for sale.

Although I am a cat lover and have 2 pet cats, I have never attempted to paint a cat until today. I decided that this year I will no longer shrink away from painting subjects that scare me because of my inexperience. I am happy with this- my first cat painting, as it conveys the message of warm and coziness that I had been trying to produce.

Back in my home in Pennsylvania, we had three fireplaces, and one was a huge walk-in fireplace with stone hearth and an antique crane and welcome window. I had a copper pot hanging on the crane that invited the feelings of coziness and warmth that I tried to convey in this painting. We could use a fireplace in Florida right now!

Brrrr!!!! It's even frigid here in Florida today! Stay warm and Happy New Year!

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Sun-kissed, paintings of tropical islands, Hawaii, Maui, palm trees, seascape

SOLD"Sun-kissed", 10x8, oil on canvas panel

This is one of the favorites that I have done recently, and is still available! If you would like to purchase this painting, please contact Leah at Collector's Gallery and Framery. The number is 941-488-3029.

Happy New Year to all of my friends and collectors!

Winter Wonderland, 8x10, oil on panel

SOLD
"Winter wonderland" , 8x10, oil on archival panel

This impressionist snowscape was fun to do. It's loose and was done with palette knife only so the painting has nice texture and beautiful soft cool colors. Hope it warms you up a bit!

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