Ginger Blossom for Christmas

●Ginger Blossom
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas  2017

Mill Studies continue...

●Mill 4
24 x 20 Oil on Canvas on Birch panel  2017

Westrock

Post hurricane and getting back to the mill study series....

Mill III (WestRock)
24 x 14.5 Oil on Canvas on Panel  2017

Island Flora

These two paintings are from the neighborhood yards and gardens.  They are kind of irregular in sizing because I made the canvas / birch panels to fit a couple of frames I had on hand.   They should be framed and available in the Island Art Association gallery later this month.

Canna Study
7 3/4 x 10 1/2  Oil on Canvas Panel  2017

Magnolia Study
10 1/2 x 7 3/4 Oil on Canvas Panel 2017

Mill and Marsh Series Continues....

●Mill II

36 x 48 Oil on Canvas  2017

Cumberland Shore

●Cumberland at Dusk
8 x 8 0il on Canvas  2017

Study of Egans Creek in the Rain

We have had an unusually rainy spell here on the island lately prompting this new study of Egans Creek during a steady drizzle.

● Creek Study 2
10 x 8 oil on canvas panel 2017 

Croton Blooms

You don't see the bloom on the croton plant very often but I caught these last summer and they looked so much like little "sputniks" that I just had to paint them.

● in Bloom
8 x 8 Oil on canvas  2017

Fernandina Shrimpboat Favorite

●Smiley's Girls
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas  2017

I have always liked this particular shrimpboat that makes it's home here at a dock near the pogy plant.  I have never met Mr. Smiley so am not sure if he is the John LeCarre Smiley or just a very happy person but either way the name always makes me smile.

Thinking of Newfoundland

Colorful Cliffs on the Skerwink Trail
11 x 14 Oil on Canvas Panel  2017

Here in Florida the weather is hot and the air is thick and humid.  Relatives in Newfoundland are however dealing with temperatures quite a bit cooler and the fishermen still haven't been able to get out in the boats at Sibley's cove because of the ice in the bay.  

Key Largo Bromeliads

Key Largo Bromeliads
Watercolor  18 x 24   2017

Mill Series Continues

I have been working sporadically since moving into the studio and just finished another in the Mill series that I revisit periodically.  The island's two mills are very different in configuration but share certain shapes and themes of construction that have leant themselves to being merged in some of my studies.  This painting however is totally from the Rayonier mill (and my imagination).

• Mill #1
24 1/2 x 32 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel   2017

Playing with Paint

Golden Sunset on Dames Point
18 x 24 Watercolor and Gouache   2017

Red Trumpet Flowers

●Red Trumpets
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas  2017

Although I had planted the native red trumpet vine to feed the hummingbirds, this year it is playing host to a wide variety of bees.  You don't see them when you go to the plant until they buzz out of the trumpet and move on to another.  The flowers are full of nectar.

More Tulips for our Early Spring

●Parrot Tulips #3
15 x 20 Oil on Canvas Panel  2017

Cliffs Edge on the Skerwink Trail

Cliff's Edge on Skerwink
14 x 11 Oil on Canvas Panel  2017

Parrot Tulip

The parrot tulips change in color as they open fully and get to the end of their days in the bouquet.  This tulip is almost ready to start dropping its petals but still has great color and shape.   

●Parrot Tulip #2 (untitled)
8 x 8 Oil on canvas 2017 

For the love of Tulips

I am very fond of parrot tulips with their fringe and colorful combination petals but they are hard to come by here in NE Florida.  When I got a bunch recently I just had to paint them.  They have so much character as they move from tightly closed to completely open and ready to drop petals.  The colors change during this cycle as well as the petal shape.  Here are the first two paintings of the group, and there are two more in process at the studio.

●Untitled - Parrot Tulips
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas 2017

Parrot in the Shadows
15 x 20 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel  2017

Bridge in Transition

The bridge over the Rio Grande river gorge just outside of Taos is an amazing feat of engineering.  The bridge spans the gorge 565 feet above the river and offers breathtaking views of the gorge walls with the river snaking below.  I have painted the river from its banks where it flows along beside the road from Taos to Espanola, but have never found a way to convey the feeling at the deep gorge section near the bridge.  I started the Gorge Bridge in a more traditional representation:

which I quickly came to dislike..... In painting over that scene, the next view of the piece is moving more toward a compression of the shapes and colors:

and finally, in the finished painting, the colors and shapes that convey for me the structural yet ethereal presence of this bridge over the deep gorge are distilled to only those bits I find essential:

Gorge Bridge
25 x 32 Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel  2017

I took the photos used for reference in this piece last December while visiting on a sunny early afternoon.  The bridge cast a shadow on the walls of the gorge and the snow and clouds reflected and concealed parts of the Taos mountain ski area in the background.