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