Shades of Summer

8x8 oil on panel
$375 + s/h
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Ah summer - I had to get to the beach at least in my mind! We will try to hit the Texas coast sometime this summer. But I will miss the Florida gulf beaches a lot. The water there is so beautiful.

Leading Edge

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + s/h
sold

Back from Loretta Goodwin Gallery's Tiny Treasures show which was held over from the holidays. I will have several more of these small beach scenes to share in the coming days.

Wave Rider

5x5 oil on panel
$100 + s/h - sold

I think this is the last one for a few days. I am packing to go to NYC now! I am going with another artist/friend, Tess Traylor Walls and I can't wait. We are going to paint and sketch around the city. Spend a little time in the Met and try to visit the Hispanic Society of America where they have a collection of Sorolla paintings. This time I will get down to Chinatown and Little Italy. I better get another memory card for my camera.

Smooth Surfin'

5x5 oil on panel
$100 + s/h - sold

Here is an example of my brain function, I couldn't really remember WHERE I'd seen these surfers. Turns out (according to my diary) that we were in Siesta Key last year (just a year ago!?), and these were taken at Turtle Beach. Its just south of Siesta Key beach but quite different. The shore was a steep drop down to the crystal clear green water and the sand was dark, deep and fine. I think it was that sharp drop that made the waves good for these guys to surf on these short boards.

Once I read the little entry in my 5 year diary, it all came back to me, but until then... a total blank. I find this a little worrisome.

Easy Rider

5x5 oil on panel
$100 + s/h
PURCHASE

Now we go into the water and leave the long boarders for some skim boarders in action. I am not an expert actually in what boards they had, but I did like the movement of these guys playing in slightly rougher breakers on Amelia Island, Florida.

I'm enjoying my virtual trip to the beach and am making friends with Phtalo green! But Friday I leave for NYC!!

Boarder

5x5 oil on panel - sold


This week I was nearby V....Vaughan's studio so I dropped by and painted with her. It was nice to have some company and to try to focus a little bit on art. So far, summer has been far from easy livin'. Between travel, shuttling to camps, household chores, physical therapy and so many other things, I haven't had the time or energy to paint. And I'm missing it.
I decided I'd try some small panels. I actually find them rather hard to to. Its hard to paint very small. The subject has to be simple for my brushwork to work.

And since I'm not getting a break from the usual routine of life, I took myself to the beach in my painting time. I ended up doing several small panels in a series... so keep watching!

In Her Tube

6x6 oil on panel
$125 + s/h
PURCHASE

Another view of the little tuber, playing in the waves at Siesta Key Beach. This year we're not going to vacation in FL because I bought one of those living social deals to COZUMEL! We haven't traveled abroad in many years - and our daughter has never been out of the country, so I've been busy getting our passports renewed and getting the child's first ever. She is so excited. I am not sure how much traditional Mexican scenery I will find, but I'm sure to enjoy the beaches and snorkeling. Now, if I can only figure out our summer vacation schedule! I have to work around my parents who will be joining us, my hubby's work, my trip to NYC :), summer camps and a trip to see our IN family and meet our new nephew! No problem.

Beach Dunes Sketch

page from my sketchbook

This is just a little sketch I did from our back patio at the beach. This is our last day in FL at my parent's house. All my spoiling will come to an end and I have to go back to being a fully functioning adult/parent. :-)
But I miss my hubby and my dogs. And fish, and garden, and so on....so will be happy to get home. Until next year!

Beach Study - Sunset II

6x6 oil on panel

This is the same sunset as I posted previously, but a little later. I had loaded my palette with alizarin crimson and cad yellow medium and couldn't get the true bright red/orange that was happening on that higher cloud, but this is the general feel of it. The next time, for the beach scenes I used scarlet red. I usually use a cad red hue from Sennelier, but I need to get new supplies when I get home. Didn't have a tube of ultramarine blue to travel with either and had to borrow one from my mom. Good thing she is an artist also and has lots of goodies to play with here. She mostly does watercolors though.

Below I thought I'd share a painting that I did a hundred years ago! Feels like it at least. It hangs in my folks' house and is a large portrait of my mother holding my young nephew (he is now 19!) I wonder what it would look like if I painted it now?

Beach Study II - Sunset

6x6 oil on panel

We had such clouds and a fair amount of rain at the beach that we only had good sunsets twice during the week - but WOW - what sunsets they were. Just devastatingly beautiful!
What amazed me also was how long my paintings stayed wet. In Austin they dry overnight. Not here, what a difference the humidity makes. At home even the paint on my palette hardens overnight - which is very annoying and wasteful.

Beach Study

Beach week is over. I am in central Florida now with a nice rain falling. We actually had rather cloudy skies and rain at the beach as well, but its ok with me. I am not into burning in the blazing sun. Though the shadows and bright sunlight would have been preferable for the artist in me. I got some good sketching, and a few oil studies in.

The painting above was a study in values. It was an overcast sort of day and looking down beach it all seemed almost misty except for the bright beach umbrellas.


My little cigar box set up on my knees. Limited palette - but tried two different blues since my mom had brought them both.

No photo editing software here. I somehow allowed a virus on my husband's laptop too when I got on Facebook last week. Oops. Hopefully he will have that taken care of before he goes back to work! My daughter and I continue our vacation this week. Lucky us!

Happy Independence Day all!!

Watching and Waiting - Surfer Girl

6x6 oil on panel
$100 + $6.50 s/h - sold

More from the sunny coast of Florida. We're still enjoying temps in the 90s here. I use the term "enjoying" loosely. I could use a little fall weather. :-)

Final days in Florida

I did get to see the wild horses on Cumberland Island. I was so excited. We took a private boat tour with Captain Carol of On the Water Adventures. I highly recommend this tour. There is another boat tour company but this was smaller (and private!) and she was able to take us up into creeks between the marsh grasses in search of manatees and up to the beaches close to the horses. She also had a lot great information to share. Like the story of these horses. Apparently the island was owned, at one point in the good ole days, by the Carnegies. When their horses got old, they turned them out to "pasture" and let them become feral - they bred, more horses were let loose, and/or brought in (Lipizzaner and mustang stallions) and the population is thriving. Very neat.

More Beach Sketches

These are some sketches I added some color to in my sketchbook. The wind has been rather strong and makes the oils messy!
Today we're going on a boat tour around Amelia and Cumberland islands. Hope to see dolphin, manatee and maybe wild horses.

Beach Sketches

pages from my sketchbook

Lighthouse House

Here we are at Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. Its been lovely. Though a little windy. I painted yesterday morning and could barely keep things from blowing away. Done a lot of sketching in my book too.
This is a house down the beach a few doors - we call it the light house. I'm reminded of Hopper's paintings when I look at it.


roughly 6x6 oil on paper

Below is a very tiny painting I did on the other end of the paper above. This is that "museum board" or carton paper that I like, though I don't know yet how to frame it. I suppose it should go under glass. I don't like the thoughts of that. That is just another reason I love oil paints so much. No messing with matting or glass framing.



I am having a thoroughly wonderful time lazing about and alternately basking in the sun and being pounded by some rough surf. Speaking of! There have been surfers here too and I've gotten lots of great photos as well as sketches! Between this trip and NYC I will have things to work on for a year or more!

Central Florida

These are just some tiny oil sketches I've done trying to record my memories of scenes we've passed while driving around. We went tubing on the Ichetucknee river a couple of days ago and drove out to a neat little hamlet along the gulf marshes. Today we're packing for our beach week. We go to Amelia Island Saturday morning.

Over the Fence

I have no idea how the color will appear on these. I scanned them onto my parents computer (and have to clean the white paint off it now. Even my quick-dry white won't dry. I guess its the humidity!)
Anyway - these little sketches are of the house behind the fence at my folks'. Its newly built but in an old farmhouse style. The first one was most complete but never thought I quite got the values correct. The white house, reflecting a lot of green and blues, was deceptive. Until I really squinted, I could not get the sky and house the correct values. I then did a "thumbnail" painting of just those values with no details. I think it is closer to reality. But maybe if I'd done it in grays, I would have gotten even more accurate.
We are having such a nice time - its so nice to NOT have to do anything. This is my one break each year.

Florida Backroads

Arrived on Saturday to a very nice rainstorm. Hadn't seen rain in quite some time. We lounged about yesterday and today took a trip over to Homossasa Springs and saw manatees and a bunch of other wildlife. I sat in the front sketching the gorgeous passing scenery. Lots of trees - such beautiful old oaks! All dripping that romantic looking spanish moss. Lots of horses and cows. Its all so lush and green. Very different from Austin! I am inspired by everything here. There is a great deal of "atmosphere" - a blue haze that makes the distance recede so beautifully.

Above are just a couple little vignettes from my sketchbook. The sunset here at home might be worth painting in oil tonight. Or maybe deep dusk over the pond. I'd better go get ready.

Skimboarders at Siesta

12x16 oil on panel

Another scene that brings me joy. The boys of summer. It will be available at Edward Montgomery Fine Art next week.

Tonight I am going to attend the opening banquet for the Salon International show at Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio. The show opens tomorrow and hangs until May 1. Its an exceptional show, at an exceptional gallery and I'm looking forward to the evening being surrounded by art and artists. Maybe I will get to meet Daniel Greene also.