New Show Coming Up

The Plantation Artists Guild and Gallery, where I serve as guild director, is planning its new show. The shows there are changed every three months in order to keep the gallery fresh for visitors. This next show will debut around Mothers' Day. I will be showing three new paintings that I have completed in my Tuesday morning painting group. One is of an evening sky here just before a storm. Another is based on a photo that a friend and fellow Tuesday painter gave me of his vacation in Canada. The third returns to our trip to the Greek Isles a couple of years ago. These are each quite different from the others, but all demonstrate the experimentation that I am doing in these group painting sessions. We find it to be both fun and productive to get together, share ideas, listen to music and gently critique each other.

Several new paintings from recent months

The most recent works cover some thoughts based on the North Carolina trip a year ago and also on bouquets for special occasions. The first one came from a slow boat ride past a park bench on a dock bathed in sunshine. I called it Afternoon Delight. The second was inspired by a little white dock contrasting with the autumn colors. I added a young boy fishing (Playin' Hooky) to provide a little whimsy.

The florals, Happy Anniversary and Mothers Day, were intended to prolong the special feelings stirred by gifts of flowers.


These four, along with Vineyard Parking, are currently on display at the Plantation Artists' Guild and Gallery here on Amelia Island. The last one mentioned is based on a photo I took from the ferry coming in to Martha's Vineyard. I liked the composition of numerous boats in front of the New England shingled houses amongst the trees.

Latest Paintings

Living here on a barrier island at the Northeastern tip of Florida, marsh scenes are very popular subjects for painters. I recently tried my hand at two. One is somewhat realistic, while the other is more abstract. I enjoyed painting both. I also recently completed another of my impressionistic marine paintings on red backgrounds.

It has been a busy summer at the Plantation Artists' Guild and Gallery which is now my primary gallery. As part of my duties as Guild Director (not official until Nov.) I have started a Tuesday painters group where artists working in varying mediums gather to paint together and talk. I am finding it to be inspiring and productive. Two of the three new paintings I am adding here were done in the Tuesday sessions. "Approaching Murano" was based on a stormy photo that my daughter sent me from one of the family excursions to Italy. "Menemsha Docks" is a more impressionistic treatment of a scene I have painted before. "Fernandina Shrimpboats" is also a scene I have painted previously, but this time it is on a much larger scale.

Recently finished paintings

I have completed three new paintings this Spring and am nearly done with a fourth. First was a somewhat abstract view of the local area's shrimpboats. This is a bit of a departure for me, but I enjoyed it and am happy with the result. The second is a scene from the trip we took a year ago to the Greek Isles. The almost tame pink pelicans on the beach there were posing for pictures. I had to oblige. The third is from my own backyard. Butterflies and bees seem to love my bottlebrush tree. The colors are so vivid that I had to try to capture them.

Another Golf Painting Here's my latest. Another from the Fall trip to North Carolina. This one is called In the Fairway. This course had lush green fairways sweeping up and down through the trees. With the added color of fall foliage and the quiet of the mountain location, it was true serenity--no matter how bad the actual game was.

Colors of Fall
This Fall we traveled to beautiful Lake Toxaway in North Carolina to see the colors. The crisp air causes fantastic changes to the trees in those mountains. The views around the lake and on the golf courses almost look like a child's rendition with crayons. Brilliant reds, yellows and oranges mix with the bright greens and blues to make an almost unreal color scheme. In the first two paintings I have completed from that trip, I hope I have come close to capturing the feeling of the area.