Off Main Street

Friday was bright and sunny, although very cool it was a great day to paint. Our plein air group painted on the grounds of a once trendy Spanish style hotel called The Hacienda. Its been in disrepair for about 40 years and now has become enshrouded in trees and bushes. The building is a faded pink with terra cotta roofing. It has some interesting history, if you are interested you can do a google search by typing in The Hacienda New Port Richey. Fl.

9 x 12, oil on board

North End

This painting represents the north end of Howard Park where its very rocky on the point, of course the south end of the beach is very rocky too but both locations open up to nice sandy beaches where you can wade out for some distance before it starts to drop off. Lots of yellow flowers blooming all over the place make these views very pleasant.
oil on board, 9 x 12.

Beach Mat

This is a studio painting I did from one of the pics I shot out at the beach. There still are a lot of people enjoying the beach, its not as crowded or as hot as it was in August and September. The woman in the painting is returning from the parking lot so I guess she forgot her beach mat.

11 x 14, oil on linen

Sun on Sea Grapes

The morning sun was catching just the tops of the sea grapes and I aimed at capturing that look. Sea grapes grow all over the beach area here, they can take a lot of abuse by the weather and still look great. There was a beautiful heron stitting in the bushes close by but I figured if I tried painting him he would disappear as soon as I got started so the sea grapes were a much safer subject.

9 x 12 oil on board

Along the River

There's usually a fisherman or two at the shore line fishing or shrimping but the day I painted this must have been a bad day for fishing since no one was there. I tried to capture the feeling of dappled light through the trees.

8x 10, oil on board

View of the Creek

Last week's plein air painting turned out so bad I decided not to post it. Sometimes things just don't go right! This posted one I did several months ago when we were painting out at a local park. It was a sultry hot day which I tried to capture in the painting. No breeze, no nothing on that day, thankfully that kind of weather is pretty well behind us now 'til next June or so.

9 x 12, oil on board

Along the River

The shoreline along this part of the Anclote River is very sandy, in fact there is a beach/park right next to where we were painting. I left out the channel marker, actually forgot about it, but many boats go through this channel to get out to the gulf. I didn't think I wanted to tackle painting a boat on the move so opted for this more serene look.
8 x 10, oil on canvas

Just Splashing Around

I was out at the beach last week in early evening trying to get some candid shots of people going about their leisure activities. Nearby was a family with two small children and they seemed to be having such a good time. The father was keeping very close tabs on the smaller child who was desperately trying to catch one of the birds that was looking for food. The older child, painted here, was fascinated just to be sloshing around in the water.

10 x 8, oil on canvas board

Looking for Treasures

Along the beach at Honeymoon Island there are tons of shells that have washed up on the shore. Most are pretty broken up by the surf and rocks at the shoreline but there are always many people looking for that special treasure.

10 x 8, oil on canvas

Morning Clouds

My painting friends and I were out at the beach again this past week painting and the humidity was low which made the landscape look so clear everything looked like a painting ready to happen. The clouds looked awesome so I just had to do a cloud study.

10 x 8, oil on canvas

Waterside at Honeymoon Island

We're still painting out at the beach where we can get some relief from the August heat. The surf was rolling in non stop along with plenty of wind so it was easy to stay cool. Of course taking a dip in the gulf was nice too even though we could hardly stand up in the heavy surf but we had a great time. This painting shows some of the shoreline which is fairly rugged on this stretch on Honeymoon Island.

7 x 10 oil on paper

Party of One

I was painting out at the beach with some fellow artists and this fellow was sitting close by enjoying himself. He seemed very content to sit and wait for the fish to bite. One of the artists said he caught some pompano--a really good eating fish.

8 x 10, oil on panel

Shell Game

The last time I was out painting there were many people walking the beach looking for shells. I could overhear these two girls as they were finding different kinds of shells and calling them out by name. I was impressed that they knew all the names.

8 x 10 oil on canvas

Surf's Up

Friday was a good painting day other than the heat index being somewhere around 105 degrees so it was really good to be by the water. My fellow artists and I hunkered down in the only piece of shade we could find along this part of the beach.

The beach is fairly rocky along this stretch but with flip flops on you can move right along without saying "ouch" every step of the way.

6 x 8, oil on board

Trail to the Water

Our painting group was at the beach again this week. There are lots of scrub trees growing close to the shoreline where we were painting and this short path took you right to the sandy part of the beach.

8 x 6, oil on board

Honeymoon Island Bath House

Honeymoon Island offers many views of an untamed landscape and a beautiful shoreline. With my back to the gulf and wonderful breezes blowing I painted this sunny scene. Maybe not all that untamed as the bath house lets one know its not all that undeveloped. After painting for a couple of hours all of us painters went for a very refreshing dip in the gulf-- what a fun painting day!
9 x 12, oil on board

This painting photographed a little on the cool side, its much warmer looking on the canvas. Guess its my wonderful photography skills! Lots of the ponds around here have a bright green algae on the surface this time of year--its makes for an interesting painting.

12 x 9, oil on canvas

Local Pond

A few weeks ago I came upon this scene with a beautiful egret posing in the middle of the pond, of course by the time I got my camera out he had flown off. So here is a view of the pond with all its green algae and no egret!

10 x 8, oil on board

Along the Marsh

Friday was a great painting day with a light breeze blowing and puffy clouds overhead. This scene is was painted at the edge of the roadside overlooking marshland that seemed to go on forever.

12x9, oil on board

The Sand Pail

Children are really moving targets when you are trying to paint them so I sketched in the idea when I was out at the beach and then used the sketch at home to paint this scene of them playing at the shoreline. They seemed to be having such a good time.

10 x 8, oil on board

Path to the Water

Its been an early summer as far as temperature goes this year and Friday was no exception. The temperature probably was in the low 90s and not a whiff of a breeze to be found--one of the trials of plein air painting. Looking back over some of my previous posts I see I painted the same scene as I did a few weeks ago--guess I liked the view.
This small sky and palm study was done at one of the local parks.
8 x 6, oil on canvas

Caladesi Beach

Just something to remind you of the sand and sun. I painted this some time ago and kept going back and repainting it--still can't decide if I have it right.
16 x 20, oil on canvas

Palm along the Gulf

I don't know what happened with this small study, I hardly put any paint on the canvas for some reason and a lot of the background is showing through, not really a bad thing, but in my head I was thinking that I was using lots of paint. Guess I was hurrying along to get the idea on the canvas before I lost it. To add to that, when I arrived at the set location to paint I found that all I had with me was a 6x8 canvas so I ended up doing a small painting but am fairly happy with the results.
8 x 6, oil on canvas

Cloud study

I have been doing cloud studies lately and this is one of the studies. I was trying to capture the feeling of morning before the day became very warm. The day was glorious with beautiful puffy clouds floating overhead and plenty of opportunity to actually capture them even though they are moving targets.
9 x 12, oil on board

Pathway near Millers Bayou

This was quick plein air as I was trying to beat the sun moving ever so close to my easel. Although I had an umbrella attached to my easel it was not much help as it kept trying to fall over in the wind--not a good painting day to say the least--maybe I'll have better luck next time.

12 x 9, oil on canvas

Howard Park Rocks

Along the beach at Howard Park there are many rocks protecting the shoreline and of course tons of palm trees making the area very picturesque which inspired me to paint this scene. This painting was done from a small study with my back to the shoreline on a perfectly bright and clear day.

16 x 20, oil on board.

Morning Flight

I have been very busy getting ready for the opening of a group show, "Contemporary Impressionists: Interpretations of the Landscape" which opened April 5th at the Cultural Center in Tarpon Springs. Three other artists participated, Jenna Star Friedman, Elizabeth Rose and Lynnette Vaughan. We had a total of 90 pieces in the show and we were all overjoyed at the strong turnout for the reception which was held April 9. This painting sold at the reception.

12 x 16 oil, SOLD

Brooker Creek Tree

Brooker Creek Preserve has been so gray looking all winter but now you can see hints of Spring everywhere. A few week ago when I was out there painting the park was having a controlled burn to encourage new growth and cut down on the fire hazards of all the dry brush. Quite a sight. Its amazing how fast new growth started to appear after the burn off. This is one of the zillion trees that grow on the property not included in the burn off area.

8x10, oil

Palm Study

After some very cold weather it was such a joy to get outside and do some painting. Winter is still lurking as you can see in the bare trees in the background but there are a few hints of spring green starting to show now that the weather is milder. This painting was done at Brooker Creek where I have spent a lot of time painting in the past year. After a fairly rainy winter there is water in all the previously dried up creeks so the reflections on the water are very picturesque.

8" x 6", oil on canvas

Sun Up

This painting is based loosely on a picture I had taken some time ago along the Gulf coast. I tried to get the feeling of the quietness of early morning on the marsh.

24 x 18, oil on canvas, SOLD

Green Key Morning

This is a painting I did in a workshop I am taking with Deborah Paris. The workshop is all about learning to paint in a tonalistic style. I have really enjoyed the workshop and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about different methods of painting.

I haven't been doing much plein air painting for quite a while--it seems like its been either very windy or very rainy, or just plain windy and rainy!

11x14, oil on linen panel

Around the Bend

This painting won the "Award of Excellence" at the Pastel Society of Tampa Bay's 4th annual show this past week end. The show will run through February 13, 2010 at Salt Creek Art Works located in St. Petersburg, Florida.

16 x 12, pastel on sanded board

Green Key Beach

Last time I was out painting it was very windy and cold, well, cold for Florida. All of us painters were huddled by some palm trees trying to stay warm and find an inspiring subject to paint. This clump of grasses quickly became my subject for the day.

9 x 12, on canvas