"The Discovery", 16x20, oil on linen, paintings of little girls, flowers,dogs, impressionist paintings of children

SOLD

"The Discovery", 16x20, oil on linen

I absolutely loved painting this. I had never painted a dog before and frankly, I was a little worried. The reference photo (thank-you to the beautiful Tribe/Gallagher family for allowing me to use it!) showed the little girl and the dog looking at something, but most of the dog's face was covered with wildflowers, so I knew I had to wing it . I decided I could make it work if I kept it impressionistic.

Although I see things in the painting that I know I could work on to give it a more finished look, it was painted alla prima, so I am definitely leaving it alone for now. I'll digest it for a few weeks and then I'll probably refine some of the areas that need work, but for now it's at least 95% finished.

So tell me. What in the world are Ellie and Arthur looking at?

(Note: This painting is not for sale at this time.)

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"Three Daisies and two Cherries", 8x8, oil on wrapped canvas-painitngs of flowers, daisies, cherries, coffee mugs, small paintings

"Three Daisies and two Cherries", 8x8, oil on wrapped canvas

Friday morning was the last day of Dreama's 3 day workshop on Marco Island. We did an exercise in the morning which was a lot of fun and revealed a lot of things about our personalities. We were given different photos to use as reference, and then we were allowed to start the painting for about 3 minutes. Then, for the next 45 minutes or so, we played "musical easels" -going around the room in a clockwise direction and working for 2-3 minutes on someone else's painting. If we didn't like the way it looked, we could scrape out the parts we wanted to change. We didn't have to use any rules, other than to paint with the other artists' paints and medium. The end result was that the painting we had started with, ended up with about 12-15 other painters strokes on it!

While some of the ladies were totally happy with their end result, I decided that my painting looked like it had a bad case of schizophrenia. So I wiped the entire thing out and started fresh. Above is the end result and I guarantee that every stroke is mine! I used Dreama's method of laying in the first notes with transparent oils and adding the opaques in subsequent layers.

I like the way it came out. Although it has a lot of blue in it, it is definitely an upbeat happy painting.

"Let the Sunshine in", 8x8, oil on museum quality gessoboard

"Let the Sunshine in", 8x8, oil on museum quality gessoboard

As I mentioned yesterday, I took Dreama Tolle Perry's 3 day workshop on Marco Island this past week. This is one of the paintings that I did in class. I was very happy to meet Dreama in person as I have always admired her work. I enjoyed the workshop and I was also happy to turn out this happy little painting!

"Wildflower Garden in Denmark"-12x16, oil on linen

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"Wildflower Garden in Denmark"-12x16, oil on linen


A few years back, my husband and I took a trip to Denmark to visit my husband's relatives and celebrate the birthday of a cousin. We had a wonderful time and were able to go back in time and trace my husband's history, which included a dad who was a stowaway on a boat out of Copenhagen headed for America many, many years ago. The stowaway dad was discovered at Ellis Island, became a merchant marine, and the rest is history for our family!

The site of this painting was somewhere around the grounds of the beautiful Begentved Manor, or Castle, as some call it. We had just walked over a bridge and were on a winding road with red houses with thatched roofs:

At the foot of that bridge was this incredible wildflower garden, and although I was not a painter at the time, I knew I had to try to capture the beauty of that garden with my camera! Anyway, the trip was wonderful, and I am glad that although I was using a pretty lousy camera at the time, I was able to translate my memories of the moment into a painting!

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The Show-Off", alla prima, impressionist landscape

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"The Show-Off", 5x7 oil on board

There's always one in every crowd!

Old World Charm, 8x10, oil, paintings of France, Strasbourg, French Venice, Le Petite France, Petunias, canals, old cities

Old World Charm, 8x10, oil

In the series of paintings that I have done of Strasbourg, France, this is the only one that was done in a smaller format. It was done with impressionistic strokes, and has a blurred, dreamy quality to it, which I like.

On a happy note, my larger painting of Strasbourg was just juried into the Women Painters of the Southest's juried show to be held in April at The Course Gallery in Jacksonville, Florida.

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"Almost Evening", 6x6, oil on ampersand gessoboard

"Almost Evening", 6x6, oil on ampersand gessoboard

It's a bit of a magical time of day- not quite daylight and not quite night time. Robert Louis Stevenson called it The Children's Hour.

This is an old city. It could be a city anywhere in the world- Paris, Charleston, Philadelphia or even the gaslight district of San Diego. Make it what you want it to be. And then let the magic begin....

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"The Pond at Horseshoe Farm"- 14x11 , oil on linen

SOLD"The Pond at Horseshoe Farm"- 14x11 , oil on linen

This scene looks out over the pond and stables at the Strawbridge's Hetheridge Farm on St. Matthews Road in Chester Springs, Pa. It also happens to be the scene that I used to look at every day from my back yard when I lived in Horseshoe Farm in Chester Springs.

The painting was done from an old grainy photograph taken with one of the very first digital cameras that ever came out, so I had to rely heavily on memory as I painted.



In this painting, I decided to make the stables the focal point, even though it did not stand out in the photograph. The sun always came up over the pond in the morning, but I believe this photo was taken at the end of the day, when the sky in the background was receiving reflective light from the setting sun.




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"Country Cupboard", 12x16, oil on linen

"Country Cupboard", 12x16, oil on linen

This is an older painting that I took out and re-worked a bit yesterday. I had trouble photographing it, and am starting to think I need a lesson in photography! Since I bought a new camera a few months ago, I have not had much success photographing my artwork. I am using a Nikon Coolpix 14.1 megapixels. Weirdly, my old Kodak with only 6 megapixels seemed to do a better job and have more range of color. This camera seems to have a mind of its own and takes pictures randomly, even when I am not pressing the button. The pictures never seem right to me and do not do the artwork justice. The area in the center is always clear and the perimeter is fuzzy. I could really use some help, I don't even understand the menu!

Any suggestions anyone?

"Summer Reflections-Strasbourg", 16x20, oil on board

"Summer Reflections-Strasbourg", 16x20, oil on board


New Strasbourg painting- I just never tire of this scene!

This painting has been juried into the Women Painters of the Southeast show at The Course Gallery in Jacksonville, Florida. Mark your calenders for a great show , coming in April!

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"The Dream House", 20x16, oil on linen

"The Dream House", 20x16, oil on linen

Many people entertain hopes of someday living in their dreamhouse, but I suspect that few people actually get to live their dreams. I feel fortunate that I actually did buy my dream house, and got to live in it for 13 years!

I sold real estate on the Pennsylvania Main Line a while back. No matter how many huge, fancy and impressive homes I saw during that time, I never wanted any other house but my beautiful farmhouse on Houndstooth Lane in Chester Springs.



The house was fabulous. It was a reproduction of an old farmhouse with three fireplaces (one, a walk-in), stone and log facade, cedar roof and magnificent wood floors and old world mouldings throughout. The best part were the views from every window, which were absolutely breathtaking no matter what season. There was a huge pond and horse farm behind us, and I often went out on the balcony of our second floor bedroom and just gazed out over the rolling hills of Chester Springs for what sometimes turned into hours. Sometimes I went down to the pond and wrote poetry. Usually I just fed the fish in our koi pond and read a book or had a glass of wine. It was a great house, but Chester Springs was a gem as well. Here is an aerial view of the house:



Located in historic Chester County, Chester Springs is best noted for historic Yellow Springs, which was the village just down the road from my house. Wealthy Philadelphians would ride their horse and carriages to Yellow Springs in the summer in the late 1800's, to bathe in the rich mineral waters of the springs in the village. The area is rich in mineral waters, including many ponds as well as Pine and Pickering Creeks, which flow through Chester Springs. Washington's army was housed in a home in the village there that acted as a hospital during the Revolutionary War and is now a restaurant. (Or at least it was when I lived there!) There is also an art school there and the road is aptly named Art School Road!

The surrounding area was magnificent, with many old gentlemen's farms perched on dozens of glorious acres with flowing springs, golden ponds and rolling hills untouched by development. Here is a photo from Red Hamer's book, "The Four Seasons of Chester County". The photo depicts the estate known as Pine Creek Mills, which dates back to 1750 and includes many buildings and a grist mill. It was also once the home of noted illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post, Joseph M. Clement. Pine Creek Mills is right down the road from where I lived in Horseshoe Farm off of the historic Horseshoe Trail, and the scene below is just one of many inviting scenes that I would love to paint en plein air someday. I added the view of Pine Creek and the stone foot bridge to my dream house painting because it depicts the area so well!



Although I miss Houndstooth, I am still glad that we moved to Florida 7 years ago, because it finally gave me an opportunity to do something I had always wanted to do, which was to paint!

Hopefully if I go back, the house and neighborhood have not changed too much, and I am happy that I still have the memories of that lovely place, and was able to actually live in my dream house for many years!

"Into the Wind", 8x8, oil on board, by Maryanne Jacobsen

SOLD"Into the Wind", 8x8, oil on board, by Maryanne Jacobsen

I painted this little scene after returning home from a vacation in Maine, where I was inspired by all the diversity of boats. The painting was done with a limtied palette as described below. The painting is available through Lorica Artworks in Andover, Massachusetts. You can reach them at (978) 470-1829 .

Here is more about the painting and the palette:

This painting was very challenging (color-wise) for me. I'd noticed that I have been putting a predominance of warms in my paintings and am not having enough cools to balance them out. So I gave myself a challenge today. I limited my palette extremely!

Yes, I said extremely!

I had absolutely no oranges on my palette or yellows!

I used the coolest red imaginable (Magenta) as my warmest red, and added a cool red (violet) to balance it out. I added a cool blue (cobalt) and a warm blue (ultramarine), plus a cool green (viridian) and a warm green (cinnabar) and that was all I used! Does anyone have any idea how hard this was for me- a colorist?

That normally has a zillion colors on her palette?

At any rate, I like the fact that the painting looks uniform. That's what I was seeking when I started out. I know I could have really popped those sails with some yellow and oranges, but guess what? I used restraint!

The boat in the painting is some sort of tourist boat that goes out of Bar Harbor on a regular basis. It's really lovely with those maroon sales, and I was happy I was able to catch a photo of it while we were there to use as a reference for my painting!

I decide not to add the flags, because that begged color!

Please send me an email if you are interested in purchasing this painting.

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"Reverence", 24x18-by Maryanne Jacobsen

SOLD"Reverence", 24x18by Maryanne Jacobsen
Note: click on the image to see the impasto better!

I have not done a Big Sur painting in a long time, so for the past couple days I worked on this one. Those ugly rocks in the foreground were kind of a drag but they were in my photo so I had to put them in. This is Big Sur in the afternoon, looking north towards the Bixby bridge which I indicated in the background.

I took the photo about 5 years ago during a trip up the coast. The painting was done with mostly a palette knife and some brushwork.


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"Me and My Teddy Bear", 6x6, oil on museum-quality gessoboard, by Maryanne Jacobsen

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"Me and My Teddy Bear", 6x6, oil on museum-quality gessoboard, by Maryanne Jacobsen

Back when I had my dance school, I often used the song "Me and my Teddy Bear" for my three and four year-olds in the end of year recital. The parents loved it, and so did the little girls, who got to hold their precious little bears in their arms as they danced.

How many little girls (and boys, too for that matter!) do you know who haven't loved a special bear and one time in their life?

If you would like to purchase this painting, please use the Paypal button below.

And if you are not familiar with the old tune, here are the lyrics:

Me and my teddy bear
Have no worries have no care
Me and my teddy bear
Just play and play all day.

I love my teddy bear
He has one eye and has no hair
I love my teddy bear
We play and play all day.

Every night he's with me
When I climb up the stairs
And by my bed he listens
Until I say my prayers.

Oh, me and my teddy bear
Have no worries have no care
Me and my teddy bear
We play and play
All day!

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"Amazing Grace-Eirinn Abu", 16x20, oil on linen, award-winning paintings, paintings of musicians,saxophone players

"Amazing Grace-Eirinn Abu", 16x20, oil on linen

Note: This painting has won a second place award at The Venice Art Center's 2012 Portrait and Figurative exhibit!

Today I had every intention of doing something small, pretty and very impressionistic. But the painting of Eirinn Abu, which I did last week, kept nagging at me, since it was sitting right there accusing me of being nonchalant.

Nonchalant? Yes, I suppose sometimes I get nonchalant about paintings. I figure that if I am about 90% happy with a painting , then it can pass for done. In this case, I knew there were a couple things that needed attention, so in spite of my earlier desire to paint something simple, I spent another day on Eirinn.

I worked on his jeans and on the saxophone, which I had muddled through because I was tired. I added a glaze or two to the background and tried to bring the cross into more prominence without detracting from the musician.

Anyhow, I really am done this time! Below, is the painting that I completed last week. I think it's a bit better now, but I invite your comments.


"Amazing Grace-Eirinn Abu", 16x20, oil on linen

I've been working on this one for a few days and today I decided to call it done. Isn't it hard sometimes to know when to say "done!"????? On second glance there always seems to be something else to add subtract or change, and then one risks the freshness while trying to perfect the likeness.

I tried to keep this painterly and impressionistic, and didn't want to define the details too much, since the photo and distracting lighting left more questions than answers in my head. We all know better than to attempt a still life or portrait when there are lots of competing light sources. This was a good lesson for me, in trying to use the knowledge I have about light, and ignore the conflicts in the photo. I hope I was successful.

The sax player in the painting is Eirinn Abu, who is considered one of the finest instrumentalists in the world. Eirinn came to our church one day and played his sax, and he blessed every single person in the room with his beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace. One could feel the Holy Spirit's presence as he played and it was very moving.

Eirinn has a wonderful testimony. In spite of all of his success in Nashville while performing with greats like Dolly Parton, Eirinn confessed that he had felt empty inside. Eventually he gave up the fast lane and now he goes from church to church and function to function (he especially has a heart for breast cancer victims), to play hymns of grace and redemption on his brass horn.

Although I played a woodwind instrument (bassoon) in the high school orchestra, I have always loved the horns most of all, and often choreographed dances to Handel when I had my ballet company. Now, I paint to the magnificent strains of both Handel and Eirinn Abu!

Eirinn came back to our church this past weekend with his beautiful wife Brandy, and gave a wonderful Christmas concert, that incorporated many different types of music into one concert. It was a real blessing to all of us to hear Eirinn again, and I sat in the front row so I could try to see if I was on the right track with my painting! The lighting was totally different, but it did help the painting a bit to see him perform again and study his features.

Thanks so much to Pastor Joy for taking the reference photo and giving me permission to use it, and thanks especially to the Lord for enabling me to paint this! It wasn't easy!

This painting is not for sale at this time. If you would like to hear and watch Eirinn play the sax, you can click here for a Youtube video.


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