Getting Ready for End of Summer Show

Four new paintings are ready for the end of Summer show. 


 

 Almost Spring in Montmartre is a scene from the park area next to Sacre Couer Basilica. I spotted the young couple on the bench while I was wandering around Montmartre during my trip to Paris earlier this year. The promise of Spring with the green developing and the unique pink haze in the distant trees demanded a very soft looking approach. Midnight in Paris came from the same trip. A late night walk along the dampened street near my hotel revealed the streaks and sparkles of light that epitomize a drizzly city after dark.
 

Village Square is a composite of several locations that I visited last Summer in Italy. The anticipation of the day as the tables and umbrellas are ready for the inhabitants to gather is uplifting and welcoming. Tortola Tranquility comes from a photo I shot nearly 20 years ago on one of my diving trips to the Caribbean. As the day ends and the sun begins to set over the harbor, everything seems to be at peace.

Spring 2011

Spring show at the gallery New paintings I have completed  for the show illustrate my varying interests in the world around me. Two of them are revisits to earlier subjects. One is the last of my Italian works, and the fourth was inspired by a visit to the Jacksonville zoo.
The Italian painting is from the garden behind the villa we stayed in during last summer's Tuscany sojourn. I admired the way the pigeons took ownership of the fountain (when the water was off) in the midst of the rosemary plants. Their colors worked so well with the vibrant greens. The title was obvious--Pigeons with Rosemary.
The "Old Fishing Bridge" is based on a bridge that used to connect Little Talbot Island to Fort George Island on the road to Jacksonville. I originally painted this scene several years ago--when the bridge was still in place. It has since been replaced with a more modern structure that doesn't have the same character. Bridge fishing is very popular in the area and I felt I wanted to take another look at this on a larger scale.
"Sailing Home" is a combination of subjects I covered a few years ago after a visit to Martha's Vineyard.
 The lighthouse and the sailboat had been painted separately and I thought I would like to see them together.
I had captured each of them at separate times from the ferry.

Finally, on a warm winter day a few months ago I visited the Jacksonville zoo. When I saw the two endangered Florida panthers napping together in the shade, I knew they would make a good painting. I call this one "Nap time".




There is also one other painting that I recently finished. It was a commissioned portrait for a good repeat patron. I titled it " Russ Rides".

Buon Giorno--
Two more paintings from this past summer's stay in Italy. Both of these are going in the next show at the Plantation Artists' Guild and Galllery. In My Garden shows some of the billiant red flowers in bloom around one of the statues around the pool garden at the villa we rented in Tuscany. What a gorgeous place! The Market is from an open air market in Rome. The animated discussion between the shopper and the vendor caught my eye. With the colorful fruits and vegetables and the assorted other goods for sale, it begged to be put on canvas.
I will probably add a couple more from this trip for the next quarterly show. I am currently working on one that depicts a couple of pigeons resting on a fountain in the garden. At the same time, I have been working on a commission of a friend on his bicycle. I will try and post that one before I deliver it.
In a couple of weeks we will be leaving for Paris. I hope to find some fantastic street scenes to paint for the Fall show. More about that when we return.

Bon Giorno

Newest Paintings for the November Gallery show

These three are the first from this summer's stay in Tuscany and Rome. What a glorious setting for a painter. Unfortunately, the weather was brutally hot, so I shot photographs as quickly as I could and then rushed to find a cooler spot...or another gelato. The first is titled Ruins Repose and is of one of the residents in Rome's cat sanctuary. What a unique and interesting idea to give over some of the ruins to the feral cats!
The second, Amore, is of a wedding we came across in one of the Roman squares. The wedding photographer was posing the newlyweds in a number of glamorous poses, and I thought I must paint one of these. A romantic memory.
The last is called Tuscan Washday. I believe I shot the photo I based it on in Montepulciano. Although, it could have been in any of the Tuscan towns I visited. It was common architecture in many.

Four new paintings for the gallery

Once again it is time to change over the exhibits at the Plantation Artists' Guild and Gallery. I have completed four new paintings for the next show. This time I dug through some old photos that I had stockpiled and came up with ideas that provide some variety. I'm surprised that I hadn't used these as inspiration before, because they all appeal to me on a personal level.

Two of them are studies of sunsets on water. I am always fascinated with the colors and movement in that environment. Another has to do with motion of a different kind--bicycle racing. Although I don't race, I still like to ride and feel the exhilaration of pedaling through open country. Finally, the fourth is another study of flowers. This is always interesting to me because of the intricate details and subtle color shifts in nature. We'll see if the buying public feels as strongly about these new additions as I do.

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.