Sunrise at Laughing Gull

I started this painting one morning and went back another day at the same time to finish it. It was simply too complicated to paint in one sitting. The light changes so quickly, so it's a challenge. Village Walk is a beautiful place, don't you think?!

Early Morning in Sis's Backyard

 I received an award on this painting at the Bonita Art League Juried Member's Exhibition in Feb 2012!

So, Plein Aire has been a focus this year. I've been learning so much from an artist in Cambridge Vermont...Karen Winslow. I'll be posting some paintings of my personal goal, "The Hundred". I just thought, I should start with 100 plein aire paintings, just to get the hang of it! Plein Aire paintings are different from studio work. They are loosely painted due to changing light. I think they don't photograph very well and look considerably better in person.  But I wanted to share them along with my studio work. While vacationing in Florida this past week, I did 9 paintings, three of them with Sissy Blakslee and we just had a grand time!

White Orchids

Painted from a cruise that included Costa Rica, I tried to keep this loose in hopes of a realistic outcome. What do you think?

Angie's Birds at the Islet Trail Bridge

This painting might look kind of familiar. It was a hit at the 2nd Annual Village Walk Art Show. I sold the original and received two commissions of the same scene. Alice (previous post) ordered one and Angie ordered a 24 x 36". I wanted them to be original pieces, so I changed various elements on each painting and added a small flock of egrets and ibis' in this painting which is often seen in winter here at Village Walk. We live in a idyllic setting for sure!

Shadows at the Islet Trail Bridge

This painting was commissioned by Alice Schreyer. The color is considerably better in real life and I can't get a good replica of it on this blog. This is a gorgeous spot in Village Walk!

Shellin' Patty

So our dear brother and sister in law visited us while in Naples and I snapped a photo of Patty shelling at the beach. I painted this little 5 x 7  of her as a remembrance.

Painted Sketch of Alyssa

Alyssa comes every Tuesday and I am exploring different settings and poses. This is a quick painted sketch I did last week.

Hibiscus for Susan II

Here is the companion painting!

Hibiscus for Susan I

This was such an enjoyable project! After a lovely cup of tea and artistic conversation, Susan Kavanaugh and I came up with these two perfectly designed Hibiscus paintings for her living room. I found the flowers at the Kingdom Hall and took lots of photographs to get the perfect "square" format.

Portrait of Alyssa

During the 8 or so sessions of painting "A Cup of Tea", I took a couple of photographs and tried to apply what I learned from Liberace's workshop to this painting.

A Cup of Tea

Alyssa posed every Tuesday for two months, so this was painted entirely from life. The changing light in the room was a challenge but I still feel good about it.

Amanda

This is class work done in Rob Liberace's workshop last weekend (2/25/2011). I thoroughly enjoyed his teaching style and obviously I love his work. We did lots of exercises like this one to really focus on light and shadow. In a perfect world, I would do one of these a day.

Untitled Plantlife

This painting is untitled for now. Sometimes a title will come real easy and other times I just have to think about it for a while. This painting was from a visit to Selby Gardens in Sarasota Florida. Hope you like it!

Elephant and Roses

I had this still life in my head for at least a month before I painted it! Funny how that is...creativity. I found the ginger jar in a little antique shop and I just loved the elephant with it.