Study for Bridge and Mill

After working on the Newfoundland "postcard" series for the past month I felt a need to loosen up and return to our local landscape.  This painting is a memory of the way our mills and bridges look to me at night as you return to the island by boat on the river.

●Night Mill
14.5 x 24 Mixed Media on Canvas Panel  2016

Rock Fingers at Sibley's Cove

This is from a very sunny day of hiking around Sibley's Cove Newfoundland.

●Rock Fingers at Sibley's Cove
14 x 22 Oil on Canvas Panel  2016

Keels Newfoundland

Keels Newfoundland is a very small outport village on the Bonavista peninsula in Newfoundland.   We have visited friends there for an afternoon the past two years in our annual visit to the province but have yet to catch Keels on a sunny day.  This is from the past year looking out from the "patio" of our friends house.

Red Shutter in Keels
14 x 22 Oil on Canvas Panel
2016 

Skerwink Trail

●Cliff Slices, Skerwink Trail
14 x 11 Oil on Canvas Panel
2016

Hiking around Cape Bonavista

One more in the Newfoundland "postcard" series.  This one is from Cape Bonavista near the lighthouse during a stormy afternoon last year.

●Storm Swirl at Cape Bonavista
11 x 14 Oil on Canvas Panel
2016

Egans Creek Shadows
16 x 12 Oil on Canvas 

Postcards from Newfoundland

After returning from our annual visit to family in Newfoundland, I began a series of small oil paintings of some of my favorite scenes from hikes around the province.  I am still painting in this group but thought I would share the first six.

Gray Beach on the Skerwink Trail
11 x 14 Oil on Canvas Panel

A Snug Harbor in Brigus
12 x 12 Oil on Canvas Panel

Apostrophe on the Skerwink Trail
12 x 12 Oil on Canvas 

Fallen Trees on the Path
12 x 12 Oil on Canvas Panel

. Skerwink Totem
14 x 11 Oil on Canvas Panel

.Storm on the Cape
14 x 11 Oil on Canvas Panel 

More from the Lily Pond at the Fairchild

Pond Reflections
20 x 16 Oil on Canvas 

Back to the Grand Canyon

New watercolor of the light on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at dusk now available at the Island Art Association.

Dusk on the North Rim
23 x 17 Watercolor

St. Augustine 7th Annual Nature and Wildlife Show

If you are in St. Augustine between now and the 28th, stop in the St. Augustine Art Association gallery on Marine Street.  I have the painting below in the show and hope to get there this week so check out the rest of the work.  

Desert Candelabra
36 x 36 Oil on Canvas 

Amaryllis

Amaryllis
12 x 16 Watercolor
2016

Shrimpboat Number 2

Here is number two in the series of small shrimpboat paintings that I have been working on lately.   It is another example of the interesting dock situations that exist here on our working waterfront.  The temptation to put in all the rigging on the boat was strong but I have left only main elements here for clarity of shape in case you were wondering where all the lines and cables went.

●In before the Storm
8 x 8 Oil  on Canvas 

Shrimp Boat on the Amelia River

I recently found a stash of 8 x 8 canvases in my studio and have been enjoying painting in that smaller format for a while now.  I like to work on multiple paintings at the same time so that there is always some work that can be done while others are drying between sessions.  This painting of a shrimp boat is the latest in that small format series, and is the first of two that I have completed recently.  It is currently available at the Island Art Association gallery.

This is only the third time I have painted one of these iconic boats that grace our riverfront but I have been sketching and photographing them regularly since we moved here.  They all seem to have unique characters and "interesting" dock situations. 

●Shrimp Boat on the Amelia River
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas

Still Life Show at ACT

The Amelia Community Theater (ACT) will have a show, Still Life,  in their lobby during the run of their production of Arsenic and Old Lace, June 9 through 25.  These two paintings will be hanging in that show. 

Parrot Tulips in the Green Vase
36 x 20 Oil on Canvas

Orchid Dance
16 x 20 Watercolor on Fabriano Paper

 

More Canyons

North Rim at Sunset
18 x 24 Watercolor, Gouache on Fabriano Paper  2016
 

Missing the Desert Canyons

I am working on a series based on canyons and desert trails from past hikes. These are on watercolor paper and contain combinations of media but all start with watercolor.

Jemez 3
24 x 18 Mixed Media on Watercolor Paper
2016 

Catching up

Things have been kind of busy here with houseguests and the Shrimp Festival so I haven't been posting anything new for a while.  Here is a new small oil of another interesting bromeliad that I saw here in a garden.  It was bursting out of the shade in a sunny spot that lit up with the color of its bloom.

Burst
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas  2016

More for the Bird of Paradise Series

The color and pattern of leaves and trunks on the white bird of paradise plants in my yard are ever changing with the seasons.  The winter leaves crinkling and dying back from a freeze have their own special colors and grace that I find myself painting even more than the flowers.

Flutter
24 x 36 Oil on Canvas
2016

Experimenting with Media

Circular Reference
32 x 24 1/2 Mixed Media on Canvas
Laid down on Board
2016

Volunteer Sunflowers

Here in my yard I get volunteer sunflowers every year after I grew some from seed about five years ago.  It was a mixed packet of colors so I never know what the plants will look like until they bloom.  They also tend to sow themselves in the edge of the yard next to the walkway making use of that path a bit of a problem.  Still, we can't bring ourselves to pull them all out so we end up having a mix of plants oddly spread throughout the yard.  The finches don't mind.  This is a small painting of one of last year's volunteers.

●Sunflower
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas
2016

Bromeliad Bloom

● Bromeliad Bloom
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas  2016

Red Trumpet Vine

Here in NE Florida the native red trumpet vine is a natural bird feeder for the hummingbirds.  It isn't as prolific in flowers or in mass as the orange trumpet we see so often but the birds do love it.  This painting will be in the Small Works show at the Lemonade Stand Gallery in Key West from March 18 through April 18.

●Hummingbird Trumpets
8 x 8 oil on canvas
2016

Constellations

These three pieces actually started as one canvas.  As I worked on it I came to see them as three distinct paintings so the canvas was cut up and they were mounted on birch board to be finished as three separate works.  These paintings start with acrylic mediums, inks, and acrylic paints on raw canvas.  They progress with more paint and paint markers, and are finished with an acrylic varnish medium.  I am showing them here in a vertical position, however I keep moving them around so they really haven't got a set position locked in, much like the stars that loosely inspire them.

Constellation 1
24 x 14 1/2 Mixed media on
canvas on board  2016

Constellation 2
24 x 14 1/2 mixed media on
canvas on board  2016

Constellation 3
24 x 14 1/5 Mixed media on
canvas on board  2016

Dames Point Bridge

The St. John's river winds its way through Jacksonville and is crossed by seven bridges in various parts of the city.  The Dames Point is  a suspension bridge that crosses near the port at a height allowing the large shipping vessels to pass beneath.  When crossing this bridge during storms it feels as if you are in the clouds and soaring over the water.   This painting is (very) loosely based on photos I snapped out of the car window during some of those stormy crossings.

●Dames Point Blue
22 x 28 Oil on Canvas
2016

Can't stop painting the Greenway....

The greenway and Egan's creek run through a major portion of the island from the North end to mid way south here on Amelia.  It is always changing and a constant source of natural beauty.  The painting below is from a quick sketch of one of the side creeks in the northern greenway marsh that I pass by almost daily.

● Egans Creek
36 x 48 Oil on Canvas
2016

White Orchids for a Cold January Day

It is cold here in NE Florida today but thankfully not snowy.   Currently in the studio I have several rather experimental paintings on the easel quite different from this one that has just been finished.  This watercolor is from reference photos taken at a botanical garden in San Antonio.

Orchid Dance
16 x 20 Watercolor
2016

Bisti Badlands

Bisti Badlands
20 x 16 Oil on Canvas
2016