Palms in Morning Light

For you to see the location and process of painting this landscape. I went to this spot three times to complete. The size is 18 inches x 24 inches, for me too big to complete in one sitting. This painting will be entered into the Annual Island City Juried Art Exhibition that will run from January 9 -30, 2015 at Art Gallery 21, Wilton Manors, Florida.

Reminiscing About The Year Past

Hope you can look back to a good year and best wishes for a fantastic 2015!!

Follow Me Into The Forest

This is another take of a previous painting (see below, earlier post), spring colors. I am fascinated by how the difference in color saturation is creating a completely different mood.

The Pavilion

I was able to finish this in 2 hours in the park the other day. I was able to move things along without fussing too much over details. The view from under the shady trees out to the pavilion seemed to make a nice composition... after moving a couple of tree trunks, of course.

Still Life in Red

I found it very interesting to play with the composition in this painting. The diagonal lines are slashing through the image and end up being echoed in the stem of the apple. The hot colored background gets some cooling from the shadows, plate, bottle and tin can.

Path in Morning Light

The amazing light on the dead, fern-covered tree in the back attracted me to this scene. The very early sun rays reflected in the yellow glow of the ski and the blue/pink shades on the ground reflected for me that special early morning feeling... stepping on dew drops, walking into spider webs...... oh yeah, Halloween is around the corner!!!

Harvest Duo

Squash and pumpkin for a harvest still life. I loved the color reflections that showed up on the dark green.

Persimmon Trio

Painting a still life, I usually stand pretty close to the set-up, focusing on the subject. For this one I stepped way back. It really helped to ignore details, put emphasis on colors and include more of the surroundings.

Path into the Forest

Painting in the park on Saturday morning with the sun lighting up the edge of the forest. I focused on the movement of the tree canope, balanced by the dappled light on the ground.

Mowed Field

After a busy summer I finally got to go out this morning to paint with friends in the park... yesss! It made my day! The simple composition kept things relaxed and I was able to finish this 11" x 14" canvas in 2 hours.

Summer Flowers

Here is the result from a happy afternoon painting. I experimented with different backgrounds and finally decided on this refreshing turquoise to balance the other warm tones. I am still not sure if it is working...

Apples on Red

This painting is the result of exploring composition and color. I limited the palette to red tones with some green for interest. It seems to create a rather quiet mood. I am still not sure if the arrangement of the apples balances the composition. I tend to think that it holds together and am pleased with the result.

Whole, Half and Quarter

Pears are one of my favorite fruits for still life. The subtle cool blue of the plate hopes to balance all the other warm colors. Does it work?

Florida Sabal Palms

I documented the 3 steps it took to complete this painting. It happened over the course of 3 consecutive Saturdays. I painted the same view about a year ago, however am much happier with this one.

Plantanos

Plantains are a stable in grocery stores here in South Florida, due to the Latin food culture. Personally, I prefer them fried when they are more ripe, sweet and yellow, however, they are quite popular mashed and cooked at this unripe stage. I was interested in the different shades of greens in this painting and the color reflections - warm green tones against cool pink and blue. The composition is quite crazy, I am still undecided on that. What do you think?

Citrus Reflections

Playing with complimentary colors and adding reflections was totally fun to do. This is one of those pictures that painted itself -

Fuzzy Peaches

Florida grown peaches surprised me the other day at the farmer's market. As far as I know the climate is too hot and humid in the sunshine state for peaches to thrive.But here they are, peach-colored and ripe, ready to eat.

Old Oaks

I can not believe that it has been over a month since my last post. Reason is that other responsibilities get in the way of things I love to do... perhaps I should have planned my free time better or take fewer naps?? However, the good news is that I was able to paint a bit and this is one of the results. The dabbled morning light reflected on the tree trunk attracted me to this scene. To create a sense of space for these massive trunks I kept the background tree darker. Hope you enjoy looking at this picture as much as I enjoyed painting it. BE WELL!

Path Less Traveled

This one is quite big (30in x 40in). Finishing this painting was not linear at all. Last July I took it four times to the spot in the woods, battling mosquitoes in the steamy summer heat. I was not sure if it was finished, so I left it "stewing" for a while leaning against the living room wall. After looking at it for several month it became more clear  that I needed to work on the path. A few weeks ago I took it back and focused on the broken up morning light that gives interest to the leaf covered forest path.I think it improved tremendously. I am going to show this painting in an upcoming group show.

Tailor's Tools

The blue measuring tape laying on top of a folded piece of fabric, a left-over from a sewing project over the week-end, was the inspiration for this still life. I found it quite interesting to study the light and shadow areas on the tape that are so important to give it definition in space.

Pepper 'n Sauce

The interest in this still life is that the background is done in cool colors, the items in the foreground are in warm colors, the shadows have warm colors reflected.

Kohlrabi Ready!

Not that common in the US, kohlrabi is an interesting looking and tasty vegetable. Here, I was lucky to find red/purple kohlrabi in an Asian super market. Having rather low contrast in this painting the light concentric lines on the bottom are popping out, "highlighting" the vegetable's typical character.

ANOTHER HAPPY DAY PAINTING!

Painter's Tools

I had to take a break from fruits and veggies. Almost ran out of ideas ...luckly, looking at my painting box these items came to the rescue. I would not have pre-planned this set-up, as this seemed too familiar and trivial. That reminds me to look closer and show appreciation for the everyday stuff, being mindful of the environment, people and things.There, the word of the day!

Strawberries on the Edge

It is strawberry season again here in Florida. On the table's edge two berries wiggled out of the bowl with the plan to escape onto the floor.
As you can see, the fun is not only painting them, it is also creating a story about a "not so still" still life. The challenge was to keep a very busy table cloth quiet so it does not take away from the main subject. I think that complementary colors and cool against warm tones help visually to separate. What do you think?

Group Show

If you happen to be in the area, you are invited to stop by for some wine and cheese while looking at some pretty nice paintings. Again, for most of you who live far away, the paintings I am showing you have seen on this blog. A super week-end to all and if your area of the world is in winter-mode - stay warm!!!

Sun and Clouds over Marsh

After bringing back the previous painting for a "make-over", I realized that I still was not done with this scene. How would the colors change in more direct sun light? Would I be able to capture that? To explore the subtle color differences, I painted a smaller version of this view. Being more familiar with the subject made a difference in not having to rush to hurry to "capture the moment". I felt more relaxed to just observe the color nuances and follow the flow of the clouds.

       After this painting, I realize more and more that COLOR is what gets me excited about a painting in general. One of the old masters of landscape painting that I totally admire is - Cezanne! It is amazing how he created distance with the contrast of warm against cool colors... endless inspiration.

Along the Marsh 2

 Something I normally do not do is, taking a finished painting back to location for a make-over. This painting kept on "haunting" me whenever I looked at it sitting on the easel. What is it?... I kept on wondering. To finally find peace, I decided to take it back one more time to the spot in the park. Of course it was a different situation, clouds, reflections.. it all looked different, however, after doing more looking and listening I added some brush strokes in the reflections, foreground and trees, did not touch the sky... Unfortunately the photo came out more blue than before which makes it difficult to see if the "finishing touches" improved the image. Please let me know what you think - your input is always appreciated.

Along the Marsh

A healthy and prosperous new year to everybody!!! This painting I finished yesterday. The view is from the boardwalk in the nearby park that leads to a lookout where one can observe turtles, fish and waterfowl. The cloudy sky is the left over of a rainy early morning.