Mill XI

The time change (and perhaps all the pumpkin spice food items being touted) seems to have affected my color choices...

Mill XI:   Daylight Savings Time
41 x 30 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel 

Autumn is Here

We have had a very LONG summer here in NE Florida and the Canna Lilies have been hanging on in the garden.  These plants have bloomed for months but are now showing signs of fall that tinges their beautiful purple and green leaves with hints of orange.

Fall Cannas
24 x 16 Oil on canvas on birch panel 

New Mexico Memories

I am currently working on illustrations for a book of poetry by my friend DeeDee that is all about New Mexico and the west.   Here is the first painting, Ghost Ranch, that will likely be used for the cover.  I had forgotten just how colorful those canyons were until I started looking through photos from past trips.  That also got me craving green chile.....

Ghost Ranch
14 x 24 Oil on canvas on birch panel 

Jacksonville Library Show

I have a show up through January 16th at the Laura Street, downtown branch, of the Jacksonville library.  If you are down there please stop in.  Also, MOCA Jax has an absolutely amazing show of Stella prints up right now through January 13th.  Check it out!

Small wonders

Every year around this time I paint a series of 8 x 8 canvases.  This started with an annual holiday gift exchange between a group of artists I paint with each week, but kind of morphed into multiple canvases in addition to the exchange gift.  The small works give me an opportunity to paint images I have been thinking about but can't seem to commit to paint on the larger sizes I usually work with.  Below are this year's small holiday paintings.

● Daylilies
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas

●Fresh Catch
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas

●Golden Light on Egan's Creek
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas

●Kathy's Garden
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas

●Summer Heat on Egan's Creek
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas 

●Talbot Storm
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas 

Playing with Collographs

I was messing around in the studio experimenting with collograph prints.  The "plate" is on the left and two tests printed from it are center and right.   I will continue experimenting with texture and
possibilities that can be hand printed in this medium without a press just to see where it leads me.  These are roughly 5 x 7. 

Patterns in NE Florida

• Mill X - Mill, Bridge, & Port
28 x 39 Mixed media on 300lb Fabriano paper 

Just for fun

This painting has been hanging around the studio for a couple of years getting worked on very sporadically.  I picked it up again to see if I could get it done for a "pattern" show coming up at the gallery and think it is finally finished.  I put it in a frame just to get myself to stop working at it and let it go....

●Garden Songs
30 x 22 Mixed Media on Fabriano paper 

Amaryllis from the Garden

Peeking at the Sun
30 x 41 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel 

Jemez

●Jemez
30 x 22 Watercolor on Arches paper 

Curcuma Ginger

Curcuma
18 x 12 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel 

Conflated Mills

Mill IX  Conflated Mills
40 x 60 Oil on Canvas

Sibley's Cove

For the first time in over 20 years we will not be traveling to Newfoundland this month to see family so I painted one of the spots we will miss.  This is the view from the harbour at Sibley's Cove.  

Sibley's Cove Newfoundland
18 x 36 Oil on Canvas on Birch panel

Back to it!

I have been out of the studio working through some family commitments and have finally gotten back to the mill series.  I needed to get some energy going after such a long break so here is a quick study in watercolor and acrylic that I hope will jump start the work on my other painting that has been languishing on the easel for about two months now....

Mill VIII
41 x 19 Mixed Media on 300 lb Fabriano Paper
2018

Revisiting White Hibiscus

I painted a series of hibiscus flowers a few years ago. I have never been happy with the paintings for the two I did of White Hibiscus.

 





 I have been toying with changing the background on them for a few years and this week I went back in to see if I could bring them together and finally declare them done.  I think I am finally finished with these two, and happy with how the background change has brought out more of the colors in the petals that were lost next to the neutral ground in their first iteration.

●Hibiscus Series : White #1
20 x 16 Oil on Linen Panel 

●Hibiscus Series: White #2
16 x 20 Oil on Linen Panel 

Cordyline Bolero

Cordyline Bolero
Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel 24 x 16

A different Sunset View

Most people here paint or photograph the sunset view over the Marsh or Marina which is very picturesque.  I find this view of the sunset reflecting on the pulp pile at the Westrock Paper Mill, perhaps less conventionally appealing, but to me much more interesting. 

• Mill V11 - Sunset on the Pulp Pile - Westrock
26 x 16 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel 

Rayonnier in a different light

Twilight at the Mill (Rayonnier)
24 x 20 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel 

Bromeliad Wonder

Blue Bromeliads
20 x 20 Oil on Canvas 

I love the variety in color and flower of bromeliad plants.   This particular one was in a greenhouse at the Mun Botannical Garden in St. John, Newfoundland last year when we visited.  Something tells me it wouldn't do so well in my yard, but I really liked the color contrast between the delicate blue/lavender shade on the flower and underside of the leaves, with the bold green and plum accents on the top.

Sunshine Mill

Sunshine on the Mill, Westrock
40 x 30 Oil on Canvas 2018

Red Rock Shelf

Red Rock Shelf , Brownsdale NF
Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel  14 x 24  2018

Around the Bay in Newfoundland

Ochre Pit Cove NF
20 x 20 Oil on Canvas 2018

Adagio

●Adagio
35 x 15 Mixed Media on Watercolor paper

This work is currently on view at the Amelia Community Theatre for their show "Imagination" that will run during the production of Harvey.