Out of the Shadows

Out of the Shadows

A special traveling exhibit will be coming to Art Center Manatee Jan 17, 2012.  It is the Karen Black Blossoms II national exhibition traveling component.  As the name implies, it is comprised of paintings of flowers.  An accompanying exhibit is In Full Bloom, a exhibition curated by the watercolor powerhouse painter Susanna Spann.  Susanna has invited 8-10 artists to participate in this show and I am hughly flattered to be one.  So I have been painting new pieces for the show.  Here are the two most recent and the photographs that inspired them. 

Autumn Pond

In the case of Out of the Shadows, the shapes are what attracted my attention.  Obviously the colors were created.  The second painting, Autumn Pond, is truer to the photograph, but once again, color is used very differently.

52 Sea Grape Paintings

In the Limelight is my latest painting.  It is also, by my uncertain count, the 52nd painting of sea grapes I have done.  Number 50 was Tropical Grapes, the next to last painting I posted on my website.  Both have image sizes of approximately 11 x 14", however, Tropical Grapes was a more complicated painting.  It now resides in Holmes Beach, FL with the couple who bought This Way, one of the Hillsborough River Ibis paintings.  A 5x6 painting of red leaves was number 51.  Small paintings like it are not posted on the website because they come and go too fast.

The painting was taken from a small section in the lower right corner of the second photo.  This wall of sea grapes is at the Eastern entrance of Maximo Moorings in St. Petersburg.  The strong light and shadow patterns are what first attracted my attention to this hedge.

Paintings of sea grapes continue to be popular at the art festivals and street fairs I display at each spring.  So I keep painting

them.  So far all but one has sold.  My most popular painting of sea grapes has been  Spring Sea Grapes.  Reproductions of it continue to sell.

Tropical Grapes

This is my latest painting, just finished Monday and

framed today. It will be going to the Sarasota Main St Fine Arts Festival this coming weekend. The grapes were on Manasota Beach, south of Venice, FL. My husband and I were there for a rare "beach day" two years ago while camping near Myakka State Forest.

Fairytale Morning

Fairytale morning is my rendition of a steep, roughly cobblestoned alley in the river town of Joigny, France in Burgundy. As you can see by the original photo, all the shutters were brown but I chose to paint them a cereulean blue because nearly all the shutters I saw in France were that shade of blue. The day I was there it was the usual early autumn morning overcast but I thought it would look better with some sunlight. Artist's license. The painting is hanging at Art Center Manatee in Bradenton, Fl in the Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society exhibition. It will be there until April 18.

Hanging Out in Burgundy

I have painted several small scenes from my Burgundy trip last year. But I just completed the first large painting today. This 30" x 22" full sheet is of the pot of geraniums half in shadow, half in bright sunlight, hanging from a spike in a rock wall in Maile-le-Ville goes to the Englewood Art Center tomorrow to hang in a show until Jan. 29.

Another large Burgundy painting will follow soon. I have about 1/3 completed of a painting of the cobblestone alley in Joigny, France. See the picture in the Sept 20, 2009 blog. Much tree trimming has been done to reveal some of the Burgundy countryside. I have also added an old lady carefully walking down the alley. Some say the old lady looks just like me.

Ibis Find a Home

The first of the Hillsborough River Ibis have flown my studio. The original painting, "This Way" has found a home with a couple from Anna Maria Island that fell in love with it when it was hanging in a show at Art Center Manatee in Bradenton last winter.