Okra pod

Okra Pod. 5 x 7". Oil on canvas.

Another small painting with oils.

Watercolor faces

Practicing with opaque watercolors...

Elephant Garlic

I'm trying to get the feel of oils right now by doing some simple (and small) still life paintings. It's exciting. I've been working with acrylics forever.

There's a buttery goodness to the oils that is quite satisfying.

Elephant Garlic. 8" x 10". Oil on masonite.

The thing that always gets me: paintings with expressive brush strokes look cooler up close.

Maybe I should attack the canvas with a bigger brush...

Plein-air Painting: The Back Field

I went out painting again yesterday and caught the fading afternoon light in the field behind my aunt and uncle's house. My aunt took some great photos:

Later that evening I touched it up a bit in my studio:

Almost there. When the paint dries a little I'll add some finishing touches.

Oils are really enjoyable... I'm surprised by how well I'm taking to them after being an acrylics guy forever.

In other news - I love Florida.

There aren't a lot of places in the States where you can comfortable go out painting in short sleeves during January.

Plein-air painting in the park

 

Yesterday afternoon we visited Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Park. I was hoping to paint a view of the lake but it was inaccessible, so I wandered around for a bit until a pair of cabbage palms caught my eye.

I took these shots at about 2/3rds of the way through my painting session.

After I got home and had dinner and a cup of coffee, I put on the finishing touches.

I'm satisfied with it. Good first attempt at plein-air painting with oils.

Sunday Inspiration: Roos Schuring with a Seascape Demonstration

Bottled water

A little unpolished sketch.

Reflections on a Pond = Serious Dedication

I like Kevin MacPherson's work and own a couple of his instructional books. He has a nice painterly style... and apparently, some serious dedication:



Not quite as sexy as Helga, but he's proven to us that even a pond can be worth painting.

Note to self: work on being dedicated.

Drift Seeds

Drift Seeds, oils on discarded cutting board, 5" x 7"

A tiny painting of drift seeds found on the beach at John U. Lloyd State Park.

Name the three depicted species correctly and I'll mail you a drawing.

Runner beans

A quick piece to test out my new set of gouache paints:

Runner Beans, 3" x 3", gouache on paper.

There's an interesting luminosity with this medium... and not as much forgiveness as there is with acrylics.

How about we bring this thing back to life?

FloridaSurvivalGardening.com is rocking along... yet I've been neglecting my other passion: art.

The last few weeks I've been doing a lot of painting.

Recently, I bought a bunch of oil paint and supplies from a friend. His wife, Ana Lesswing, (who was also a friend of mine) was an artist and art teacher. Two years ago, God decided to take her home after a long battle with cancer. Now, with some sadness, I have most of her paints, canvases and tools.

Something about "inheriting" these supplies from such a vivacious and non-stop artist has given me a boost. I realized how much I've been missing in my life by simply pursuing work and gardening without feeding my love of the visual arts.

So, without much ado, I'm kicking this blog off again.

I'll be sharing my own art and the work of others, plus book reviews and inspiration from other sources.

Let's start with a song, shall we?


See you all again soon.