Beach Peek

My new website is now up and running. Please check it out! Go to evaallenfineart.com and see a variety of work that I have painted over the last couple of years.
We were painting out at Howard Park this past week. Although the day was just about perfect my painting is full of bugs and sand. I'm waiting until its fairly dry and then will try to flick them off!

10 x 8, oil on board

Beachside Palm

This palm tree was all alone on the beach just calling to be painted. I did this small study hoping the beach people would not spread out their towels and umbrellas in my line of sight. I was lucky and had a clear view the whole time I was painting.

9 x 12, oil on canvas

Island Shopping

My strong suit is not photography for sure. I have been working on understanding my camera better rather than shooting everything on the "auto" setting. I think this photo is far more accurate in color and clarity than some of the other posts on this blog.

I took a ton of pics while on vacation last winter. With some editing of the scene I came up with this painting using the photo as a reference. Not sure what island it was as after awhile they all look alike!

11 x 14, oil on canvas

Rescue Station

I was looking for a good thunderstorm to cool things off the day I painted this sketch. Even with a nice breeze it just wasn't a great day to paint, just too darn hot-- never thought I would say that!

9 x 11, oil on board

The Cast Net

I took a ton of photos of this man using his cast net along the river. He was really good at using the net. Never did see what he caught.

8 x 10, oil on board

Footbridge at Port Richey

Its been extra hot lately and painting outside has become somewhat of a challenge. Finding a shady spot is the only option to survive. This is a view of the footbridge from a shady spot at a local park.

8 x 10, oil on board

Shady Spot

This majestic tree was along the side of the lagoon where we painting last month. Even a lone tree on the side of the road offers great subject matter along with the beautiful water scenes in every direction. This is more finished that I usually do when I paint outside--of course the reason is that I finished it in my studio where there are less distractions.

11 x 14, oil on canvas

Morning along the Gulf

The water was so blue the last time our group painted along the gulf. Its too bad we didn't have a small boat so we could paint from the water looking towards land. We all had a great time even though there was no breeze to keep the bugs away.

11 x 14, oil on linen

Early Morning

This small painting I have reworked and reworked trying to get the look of hazy fog that often is around at daybreak. I think its now finished!

8 x 6, oil on board

Beachside

This is another one of the studies I did out at Honeymoon Island a month or so ago. The grasses seem to be creeping up on the beach area but hold the erosion down and add some much needed constrast to the white sands so that is a good thing.

6 x 8, oil on board

Marsh View

We're painting along the gulf again this week. This study is of part of the marshy area near the gulf. Somehow I didn't get any of the egrets who were milling around in this scene--maybe next time they will stand still longer.
8 x 10, oil on canvas

Friday turned out to be a gray day with back-to-back down pours that really hampered our plein air painting! We ended up disbanding for the day since it was a really lousy day to be outside.
6 x8, oil on board

I did this painting a few weeks ago. Don't quite know what to say about this one. Lots of sandy soil and scrub palms are everywhere along the roadside on Honeymoon Island totally unlike the above painting with water and marsh everywhere.
8 x 10, oil on board

At Waters Edge

This is how much of the undeveloped land looks near the Gulf. Lots of scrub palms and lots of dry grasses. It seems like Florida is always in a drought condition so things don't always stay green very long after it rains.
12 x 16, oil on canvas

A Fine Day

The boat people were out in force when I painted this study. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze, perfect for being on the water.

6 x 8, oil on board.

Strawberry Time

I took a ton of pictures the last time I was painting at the strawberry farm and this painting was done from one of those pics. The correct name for the farm is the JG Ranch even though I keep calling it the strawberry farm. By the way, the strawberries are delicious--much better when you pick them yourself! 8 x 10, oil on panel

Shade Tree

Cows just don't want to cooperate when you're trying to paint them no matter how many times you tell them to stay still! It was a fun day painting all of them, they kept coming up to the fence and looking at us hoping we might have an extra carrot or two in our pockets.

9 x 12, oil on board

Old Florida Cracker House

This painting was done very rapidly since were having unpleasant weather--very cool and very, very windy, but sunny. Its always hard to paint in the wind with one hand holding the easel and the other hand trying to get paint in the right spot on the canvas, you just feel like your whole setup could topple over any minute with a strong gust.
12 x 9, oil on panel.

Boat launch

It can get difficult to find names for artwork. Sometimes you just know what the title will be before you even start painting but other times its difficult to think of any title you haven't already used. I named this small plein air piece "Boat Launch" since across the water was a small area where boats could be launched.

9 x 12, oil on board

Key Vista

I started this painting at low tide but by the time I finished the water had pretty well covered all the rocks and most of the mangrove roots. It looks pretty peaceful but the incoming tide was really moving along. If you dropped one of your brushes in the water it would have been carried off before you could even think about rescuing it.

8 x 16, oil on board

Strawberry Farm

A group of us painters went out to a U-Pick farm that has strawberries and blueberries to pick depending on their season. We just painted, no toiling in the the fields for us but we did buy some strawberries that were just fresh picked. Yummy! The bare bushes in the foreground of this painting are blueberry plants. They are still just bare twigs. We plan to return here to paint in a month or so when the blueberries will be blooming.
9x12, oil on linen board

Along the Creek

Not sure if I'm finished working on this but I thought I would post it anyway. I'm thinking of adding some more birds feeding at the waters edge. There is one in there if you look closely. I painted this pastel using as a reference one of the photos I took sometime last year when I was out searching for good places to paint.
12 x15 pastel on sanded board

Bayou Sunset

Now that the holidays are over I hope to get back to some plein air painting. This pastel I recently completed in my studio since I couldn't seem to find time to get outside and paint.

I happened upon a wonderful sunset a few months ago and snapped a picture thinking I could use it as a reference for a painting, but the photo came out way too dark for a decent reference. But the sky was so memorable I was able to create this painting using the bad photo to jog my memory.

9 x 12, pastel on sanded board