"The Red House, Monhegan Island", 14x11, oil on canvas

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"The Red House, Monhegan Island", 14x11, oil on canvas
Note: You can click on the image for better viewing.

Two summers ago we visited Monhegan  Island on a hot August day. I couldn't believe that Maine could be so hot, especially some thirty miles out to sea in the cold Atlantic! Well, it was way too hot for me to want to paint outdoors, so instead I dragged all my paint gear around the island shooting photos wherever I went.

The Red House looks out towards the loading dock on the island. It is well known for its distinctive color and over the years has gone through numerous rennovations and additions.

Over the weekend it was so cold here in Florida that I looked for something warm to paint, and found it in an unlikely spot! You guessed it- Maine! Here's my reference photo for the scene:

I took out some of the boats and figures in order to simplify the scene. I suggested the lobster nets and the tiny house across the water on the little island of Manana but tried to keep it simple so the eye would focus on the red house.

To learn more about Monhegan Island you can go here. To see my painting of Fish Beach Road on Monhegan you can go here. The painting took a second place ribbon last year at The Englewood Art Center.

"Before the Rain, Ca' d Zan", 12x16, oil on board, plein air

"Before the Rain, Ca' d Zan", 12x16, oil on board, plein air
Note: you can click on the image to view the impasto and brushwork better.

It was a busy week! Tuesday kicked off the Light-Chaser's "Paint Sarasota!" paint-out. The day loomed unseasonably nasty, with high winds and a 50% chance of rain. Normally I like days that are overcast, so I don't have to worry too much about rapidly changing light conditions. But the wind was quite harsh and a couple artists ended up chasing their easels rather than the light!

I chose to paint at the Ringling Museum again, feeling totally captivated by the surroundings of banyan trees, Venetian architecture and statues of cherubs and angels lurking in the shadows. I chose to paint Ca' d Zan once again, feeling that the light conditions could evoke a sense of atmosphere.

In the end, the experience was pretty challenging. I found myself running my paints and painting back and forth between the hatchback of my car and the easel that I had set up in front of the museum. It would sprinkle, then stop, then start again and I alternated between painting under the hatchback and trying to paint under my plein air umbrella. In the end, I finally got thoroughly soaked but managed to save my painting from annihilation!

Thursday morning the 73 Paint-Out participants set up our easels in the courtyard of Art Center Sarastoa for judging by renowned plein air artist Morgan Samuel Price. Much to my surprise, my painting was chosen for an honorable merit award, which meant a coveted spot in the Light-Chaser exhibit and a fabulous gift certificate for supplies and framing at Florida Frames!

It was a tiring week, but rewarding. I'll post my sunny day painting tomorrow!

Check out Morgan's website here. She is an amazing painter, teacher and author of two books on plein air 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’.

"Morning at the Park", 11x14, oil on linen

"Morning at the Park", 11x14, oil on linen

Today Val Sandell did a demo at Oscar Scherer State Park  for the Light-Chasers plein air group. It is always interesting to see how different and varied an artist's technique can be. Val tones her canvas with the Richard Schmid concoction of black and Terra Rosa. This was new to me, but since I don't use black, I don't think I'll try it. She also uses small brushes throughout her painting process and yet in spite of that she had a great deal of her painting finished in only an hour. Now that's a pro! She used colors I don't use like raw sienna and raw umber and such but she does a wonderful job with those colors and none of her colors get muddy , as sometimes hapeens to me when I use earth tones.

I was inspired to paint after watching her and so above is the painting that I turned out today.

Here is Val's painting in progress after only an hour. Fellow plein air painter and friend Tony D'Amico happened to be walking by as I shot this, so I hope he doesn't mind being in the picture!

 As usual, there was a nice group of devoted Light-Chasers who turned out to watch the demo this morning!

"Three Doors Down", 14x11, oil on linen

"Three Doors Down", 14x11, oil on linen

The house with the pink bougainvillea wrapping around the column is just three doors down from where I live. The owners obviously have a green thumb becuase the whole property is gorgeous to look at. I had been wanting to paint this bougainvillea for a while now, and so yesterday, I finally asked permission to stand on the lawn and paint the house.

Today I went down and spent an hour and a half painting the front porch. After that, I decided the light was changing too quickly so I finished it up in my studio. I am going to try it again on a different day because Is struggled with the dappled light on the door and walkway and need to practice  doing it more often.

"That Kind of Day", 8x10, oil on panel, paintings of baots, dingies, Nova Scotia, clouds, water

"That Kind of Day", 8x10, oil on panel

Sometimes it's just that kind of day. You know what I mean?

Painted with a limited palette of four colors plus white.

Please email me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com if you wish to purchase "That Kind of Day"
.

"Red Bridge Statue, Magnolia Plantation", 12x16, oil on linen, paintings of statues, Charleston, South Carolina, red bridge, Magnolia Plantation

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"Red Bridge Statue, Magnolia Plantation", 12x16, oil on linen

We spent some time in Charleston, South Carolina a few years ago and during our trip we visited the bewitching Magnolia Plantation , just outside of town. The plantation is steeped in history and is gorgeous year round with flowering trees, shrubs, and live oaks adorned with yards of Spanish moss. There are many footpaths and bridges, and when I came across this statue, covered with lichen , I decided it would make a nice painting one day. This was my reference photo:

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

"Looking for Catnip", 6x6, oil on panel, paintings of kittens, little cats, animal portraits

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"Looking for Catnip", 6x6, oil on panel

I painted this little kitty in between making homemade bread and broccoli cheddar soup from scratch.  I dropped the painting face down on the floor when I went to photograph it, but happily it didn't seem to have done much damage!

"Walking to San Gimignano", 12x16, oil on board, Tuscany, paintings of San Gimignano, vineyards, Tuscan scenes, impasto

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"Walking to San Gimignano", 12x16, oil on board

I haven't done one of these palette knife, colorist paintings in a long while, and yesterday I just felt like letting the paint fly. It was fun to push the color in this Tuscan scene.

Note: You can click on the image to see the impasto better.

"Thinkin' Spring", 6x6, oil, hyacinth, blue hyacinth, purple hyacinth, banana, small studies, quick studies, red apples

"Thinkin' Spring", 6x6 oil on panel

I di this quick little hyacinth study last night and the light was pretty poor. So I had to finish it up this morning.

Here's my reference:

 I'd never painted hyacinths before so this was a first. They are definitely tricky! However, the beautiful scent was a charming accompaniment to the soft music in the background as I painted.

If you are 'thinkin' spring', you can find these lovely little hyacinths in Trader Joes this week!

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

"Another Beautiful Gulf Morning", 16x12, oil on linen, old boats, fisherman, Gulf of Mexico, Florida art, fishing boats, seascapes of Florida

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"Another Beautiful Gulf Morning", 16x12, oil on linen (Note: you can click on the photo for better detail viewing of the painting.)

I took the two plein air studies that I did over the last two weeks from my outings to the North Jetty, as well as a reference photo, and used them over the past few days to create this studio painting.

I added the figure of the boat's owner and stuck with a limited palette to keep the painting unified. I combined both brushes and palette knife to keep the painting interesting and lively.

This painting will be going into the Light Chaser's annual show at Art Center Sarasota next month, but if you have any interest in the plein air study, "Old Boat, New Day", that I painted last week,  just contact me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com for pricing. Below was the reference that helped me add the gentlemen in the boat:

"Old Boat, New Day", 12x16, oil on panel, old boat, fishing boat, Venice Florida, North Jetty Venice Florida, paintings of boats,

"Old Boat, New Day", 12x16, oil on panel

Last week my plein air group painted at the North jetty in Venice. I did a small 8x10 and was happy with it. So yesterday I decided to go back there and do a larger painting.

As luck woul have it,  a fisherman was just bringing in his boat as I was setting up! I was so excited! The boat was old and had tons of character. I kept hoping he was not docking the boat just to go to the bathroom or something! But the old boat stayed there for the next two hours and so I worked quickly to put it in.

It turned around a couple times in the current, but not before I had a chance to capture it.

The painting has lots of texture in it and I was pleased with how it turned out. Just goes to show you, sometimes returning to the same spot really helps. In this case, I felt that I had a better chance to study the tree mass to the left which had been a little vague in the first painting.

"In Between Customers", 12x12, Venice Italy, Venice canal, gondolier, Italian landscape, alla prima, impressionism,

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"In Between Customers", 12x12, oil on board

 This is an older painting that I took out today and reworked a bit. I had fun with this one when I first started it. It was  challenging because of the different perspectives, but I loved all the  contrasts between light and shadow as well.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please contact Galerie du Soleil.

"North Jetty Morning", plein air, 8x10 oil on board, plein air, Venice, Florida, impressionist art, beach, Southwest Florida art

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"North Jetty Morning", plein air study, 8x10 oil on board

I have not painted outdoors since late September, thanks to circumstances. This morning , however, I decided I was ready! Slathered with sunscreen and additionally armed with my new Tillie Hat, (skin cancer will change your painting habits!),  I decided to go out bright and early so I could get a quick painting in, before the Light Chasers had their first plein air demo by award-winning artist Hodges Soileau.

I snagged a great spot under some mangrove trees, so there was no chance of worrying about sun on my canvas. (Or on me!) There were many pelicans in the water early in the morning but I was painting very quickly and didn't manage to get any of the birds in my painting this time. However, I did manage to finish this in less than an hour!


Hodges demo was superb, as usual, and since I have taken quite a few of his workshops, I knew in advance that the artists unfamiliar with his teaching style were in for a treat! There were about 50 Light-Chasers that turned out for this awesome event!

How lucky are  the Light-Chasers (my plein air painting group) to have this beautiful setting, gorgeous weather, and amazing teachers to do demos for us under the mangrove trees!

After about two hours I went back to my spot to try to put finishing touches on my painting, but the light had changed radically and the rocks were covered with water. That's okay. I like the painting the way it is. It's alive. And my paintings have not been alive for a very long time.

Thank-you Lord for helping me get over my fear of painting outdoors!

And thanks to our fearless leader, Terry Mason, for all the selfless work she does to keep our Light Chasers outdoors and painting with the best!

"Balancing Act", 11x14, still life, realism, red onion, eggs, pottery

"Balancing Act", 11x14, oil on linen

Sometimes it seems as though our lives are precarious balancing acts. How quickly our daily joys can turn into stress and pain over some unexpected turn of events. How quickly our relaxation can turn into stress, when we are unprepared for a turn of events.

The holidays can often be a real "Balancing act". Unexpected costs for gifts, unexpected company, unexpected illness or even a delayed flight can turn what should have been a happy time into a period of stress and even dread.

This Christmas I have promised myself that I will not stress out. I will stay focused on the true meaning of the season and share this blessed time with those I love and friends I cherish. I will not cave in to the negativity of shopping at unreasonable hours, cleaning till the skin comes off my hands or eating sugar-laden treats till I can't close my pants!

Although Jesus Christ was not really born in December, (see here), I will still stay focused on the fact that his birth whenever it occurred, was a blessing to the entire world. And for those who choose to follow the path of Christianity, there are rewards that are most certainly beyond our current level of understanding to comprehend.

So if you are currently trying to juggle a "balancing act", sit back for a moment and meditate on your life's blessings- those that are past and those that you still hope for. The Christmas season is about Hope, Love and Peace. Let's try to enjoy it!

"Balancing Act" can be shipped framed and ready to hang in time for Christmas. I was always very proud of this piece and while it is not really indicative of my current style of painting, I have received many compliments on it, over the past few years.