Abutilon

I really dislike orange flowers so I'm not sure why I didn't change the color of these in this painting.   I still need to work on these a bit because I'm not sure that they are reading as abutilons, but the paint is too wet to get much detail at this point.  I won't add much more detail but I do want to add some to the one flower at the top that is facing us to make it more of a focal point.

Abutilon
Image Size 9" x 12"
Oil

Sunny Low Country

Deja vu?  Yes, this is the same scene as last week's painting, but this is how it really looked the day that I was there.  It was a beautiful, sunny day with lots of puffy clouds and the temperature was perfect.  I'm not sure which painting I like better.  They each have a very different feeling and it's fun to have the freedom to interpret a scene any way I want.  : )  Ah, we artists have such power!

Sunny Low Country
Image Size 6" X 6"
Oil

Stormy Low Country

In May, I visited some friends in Charleston, South Carolina and I painted this from one of the hundreds of photos I took while I was there.  Of course, in the photo, the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue.  We went to a plantation which had really beautiful grounds and this was one of the views.  The day before, there was a tropical storm watch and a threat of a hurricane - all very exciting/scary so this is my artistic combination of the nice view and the stormy weather.   I think I will also paint the scene with the sun shining, as it is in the photo, later this week.

Charleston is such a beautiful city with such charming people.  I really had a wonderful time and I look forward to painting more of the local scenes and visiting there again some day.

Stormy Low Country
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil

The Beach

On June 30th, I participated in a plein air workshop given through the Tustin Art League.  Kevin Davidson was the instructor and I really learned a lot.  Kevin is a wonderful artist (and instructor) that works in both oils and watercolor.  For his watercolors, he usually works on yupo paper and is truly a master at it.  He makes it look so effortless.  I find it very frustrating.

For this workshop, he painted in oils.  He did a demo for a little over an hour and then we worked on our own paintings with him giving us pointers.  I find plein air painting just as frustrating as trying to paint on yupo but I'm glad I took this workshop and it does get easier each time I paint on site.  It will never be my first choice in painting experiences because I have a very short attention span.  By the time I get set up I'm usually ready to leave.  Also, I enjoy my creature comforts of being in my studio, close to the kitchen and other facilities.  : )

I am really happy with how this little painting turned out which will probably make me sign up for the next plein air experience with a little less kicking and screaming.

The Beach
Image Size 6" x 6"
Oil

After The Rain

The photo from which this was painted was taken last summer in Burano, which is one of the islands around Venice, Italy.   My husband and I had been there about 10 years ago but it was cloudy then and I didn't get any pictures with sun and shadows so I was very excited to be able to go there again, this time with our kids, so that they could see Venice with its surrounding islands and so that I could get some better pictures.  Of course this time it was raining!  We took the ferry and went to Murano first (an island where glass blowing is common) and just as the ferry pulled up to Burano the sun came out!  Lucky me!

I was happy to see colorful umbrellas throughout the city hanging on the shutters to dry.  It added charm to an already charming place.  So it turns out that the rain was a good thing.  We almost waited until the next day to go because of the rain but it's a good thing we didn't or we wouldn't have seen Burano at all.  That day all of the people that worked in transportation were on strike.  No ferrys, no gondolas, no trash pick up either so I guess it wasn't only the transportation people on strike.

Burano is known for its beautiful lace.  I'm not much of a lace person but it's always interesting to see hand crafted items.  In Burano the buildings are all brightly painted.  The color of this building was turquoise but I changed it because I felt that bright color would take the focus away from the umbrellas - artistic license at work.

After the Rain
Image Size 22" x 22"
Watercolor