Catching up and new work

I have been busy getting things sorted here in the studio for a new site selling my work.  I now have paintings at the JW Frame Gallery here on the island as well as at the Island Art Association.  For any folks up near Atlanta, my painting, After the Rains, will be in the Women Painters of the Southeast juried show and sale, at the Blue Ridge Mountain Arts Association in Blue Ridge Mountain Georgia beginning with previews on April 3 and open through May 1st. 

I have just photographed a couple of new paintings, one of which I share below. 

Spike
36 x 24 Oil on Canvas
2015

This painting comes from hiking around desert botanical gardens in Arizona last year.  The light was so crisp and sharp while we were there that all the edges shimmer when you look at the plants.  This is an aloe that was just at peak bloom.  The aloe was around 4 foot tall and had an impressive "beard" of old dry leaves.

More from the show

Wild Yucca on Big Talbot
18 x 24 Oil on Linen Panel    2014

Red Pads at the Fairchild
28 x 22 Oil on Canvas    2014

Lily Pond at the Fairchild

Lily Pond at the Fairchild
18 x 48  Oil on Canvas
2014

Bromeliads on the Border

•Bromeliads Border
40 x 30 Oil on Canvas
2014

Artist of the Month Show

Just finished hanging a small show of new work as the "Artist of the Month" at the Island Art Association.   This work is a collection of oil paintings from Florida gardens and parks I have visited over the past year.

This show will be up for the month of February and the opening reception is Saturday, February 14th from 5-7 pm. Check it out if you are around town.  I will post photos of the individual works later with details.

Everglades Mangrove Creek

Mangrove Creek
28 x 22 Oil on Canvas
2014

I will be the featured artist at the Island Art Association for February so am readying some of my latest series of paintings for the show.  This series mostly focuses on plants in the Florida landscape.  While staying in Key Largo for a couple of nights we toured the mangrove creeks on the bay and I was fascinated by all the life in the water at the base of those roots.   This painting was exploring the feeling of that water and the darkness in the interior of that mangrove stand.   

Amelia Island Shrimpboat

Untitled (Shrimpboat at Amelia Island Waterfront)
8 x 8 Oil on Canvas
 

This year's small painting for the gift exchange with the Wednesday Oil Painters group.

Abstractions

Slot Canyon Wall
15 x 21 Mixed Media on
300lb Fabriano paper 

Meanwhile back at the Ranch

This painting is from photo references I took while we were in San Antonio.  I was drawn to the colors of the old sign in front of the bare cottonwood trees behind the buildings as we drove down the street, so we had to pull  over and take a couple of pictures.  This painting is currently up in the nouveau show at the Island Art Association, art walk is Saturday from 5-7, it will be there for the next 2 months.

Ranch Motel

20 x 24 Oil on Canvas

 

See it in Stuart Florida

The painting below is currently showing in the 24th Annual All-Florida Juried Arts Show at the Martin County cultural arts center in Stuart Florida. 

Atmospheric Amelia Island

The Wednesday oil painters group that I belong to is the "featured Artist" for the month of September at the Island Art Association.  Since there are 11 of us and limited space for display, it was decided to work on paintings 11 x 14 or smaller with the theme of Island scenes.  I don't generally paint a lot of scenes of the island but decided to try some out.  I ordered a couple packs of linen panels to experiment with and have enjoyed painting this group of Fernandina scenes.  The photos that I took and worked from all seemed to have different light and atmospheric qualities that attracted me to the image.  One or two of these will be on the featured artist wall during the September artwalk (second Saturday 5-7pm) and the rest will be up with my work in the gallery for that artwalk. 

Atlantic Seafood
14 x 11 Oil on Linen Panel
2014

Storm Gathering on South Fletcher
14 x 11 Oil on Linen Panel
2014  SOLD

The Center of the Discontent
11 x 14 Oil on Linen Panel
2014

Docked in the August Haze
14 x 11 Oil on Linen Panel
2014  SOLD

Electric Sky over the Crab Trap
14 x 11 Oil on Linen Panel
2014

August Nouveau Art works

The local gallery/co-op where I exhibit has a juried show that changes every two months with a different theme for each show.  The one coming up at the beginning of August has the theme of Shakespeare Quotes.  I have done something for one of my favorite quotes " though this be madness, yet there is method in't"  from Hamlet.  As I was working on the piece, friends brought over some old frames they were getting rid of and one of them, a highly ornate and brassy gold affair seems to have become part of the piece.  I was working on the painting and working to tone down the frame with some black paint at the same time.  Somehow the frame has had quite an influence on the painting and so they have been joined (at least for now).  The work is alternately titled, Bright Lights, Big City.  It is mixed media (inks, watercolors, acrylics, pens, collage....) on 300lb Arches watercolor paper, mounted on board and sealed with UV filtering varnish.  I wanted to make the work accessible without glass and this method was one I came across while researching ways to show watercolor without framing behind glass.  Essentially the entire piece is an experiment and an improvisation.  Below are two images, one of the work itself without frame and one in the frame that became part of the work.   The Shakespeare quotes show opening is during the second Saturday in August at the Island Art Association.  Hope you can check it out if you are in the area as these photos don't pick up a lot of the detail and metallic bits in the work.

Though this be madness, yet there is method in't

(Bright Lights, Big City)  22 x 28

Mixed media on paper laid down on board 2014