Frogmore Nocturne - 24x12

There's nothing like entering a painting in a show and buying a frame to get me to finish a painting! I was nearly done with this but always put it off because I wanted to work on new things. This painting is one of two that I have entered in Beaufort Art Association's big spring show......more on that to follow. Frogmore is basically a crossroads on St. Helena Island where I live and can't really even be called a town but the spot had a distinctly metropolitan feel to it on this night!

Frogmore nocturne - 24x12" - nealy finished

Wow is it difficult to photograph dark paintings! I will attempt to do a better job when I have completed this one......it's definitely too dark in this photo. Frogmore is actually a place near where I live and home of a locally famous dish named "Frogmore Stew" - a shrimp, smoked sausage and corn delight! This is the last traffic light on the sole road (rte. 21) that leads to my home on the way to Hunting Island and the Atlantic Ocean.

I've been doing a lot of plein air and will have a few to post soon where I am experimenting with a limited palette - something I have never really tried before. I have always used a relatively limited one but this one I've been trying is super sparse and I cannot recommend it enough. More later.

funnel cloud - 10x12"

One of the things I love the most about painting outside is the adventure. On Monday I was amazed to see a funnel cloud forming as I was painting this scene.......at first I couldn't believe what I was seeing and briefly wondered if it was "smart" to remain but the cloud sort of spiraled back up into the clouds so I stayed.

edge of the tide (and new baby chicks) - 18x14"

This is the beach near my house.......the tide has quite a range at Coffin Point and the difference between high and low tide is pretty big. Even though there are few waves due to it being somewhat protected by Harbor Island (in the distance) and Edisto Beach (on the left but unseen in this painting - six miles by boat but close to two hours by car), the tide coming in can be pretty dramatic as it washes over the marsh grasses. I only started this yesterday and probably would have finished it except.......................

the baby chicks arrived at the post office!!!! They only hatched five days ago but already seem to have grown since yesterday. I spent way too much time just watching them and they are super cute.

By the river - 10x10"

I was away this past weekend judging an art show in Florida.............a very interesting experience and I loved the historic district of Fernandina Beach! I am definitely making a return trip to paint the downtown area which has fantastic architecture (when it isn't mobbed with people). On Monday our plein air group went to a place right near where I live...this is a view of the marsh near the Harbor River with the Atlantic way off.

seaside road - 16x12" plein air

How nice to be done with the pressure of preparing for the show and just being able to go out to paint with absolutely no thought of anything but really painting. This one took two days due to the recent weather (which I have loved).....downpours and lightning make me pack up though. I haven't fully resolved the bottom portion but should be able to do it in the studio without much of an issue. Right before I left something bit my ankle and it is now swollen - serves me right for bragging that bugs never bite me......just last week!

An update & a plein air (12x10")

It's still pretty hot here but I've become pretty accustomed to it and am really enjoying being outside for the most part. This morning it looked like we were going to get a big storm - as you can see from the clouds in the top painting - but they dissipated and it's now cloudless with little promise of rain. I am nearly finished with the "crabber" 18" square painting but thought I would post an update.....I'm pleased with the quietness and solidity of it (what I was attempting to do). Hard to believe it's September again!

Happy Labor Day!

I thought I would post a couple of plein air things today in the spirit of "working".........I don't usually exhibit them and often don't really "finish" them since I do them for the experience/learning and find that I tend to mess them up when I try and make them suitable for sale.  The top painting also shows how I used an old frame to hold a small canvas (8" square) firmly in my soltek easel which doesn't accommodate small sizes very well. I did the bottom 14"x11" this morning at the entrance to the beach down the street from my house on Coffin Point. 

Gay Fish driveway - 14x11"

I  live less than a mile from this spot - Gay Fish Co. - and routinely paint the boats and water but have never parked across the street and painted this view before. ....for some reason, it appealed to me this morning. I had to finish it back in the studio because the bugs were fierce! I was wearing this little bug repellant device (a fan sort of) and covered the rest of myself with "OFF deep woods" but they were still driving me crazy by flying into my face.

This 20x16" is based on a photo of a little girl I took years ago.......I did a square format painting (which sold) of her on sand but decided to try her again with some ocean around her. It's just too hot to leave the studio after noontime.

St. Helena plein air - 12x9"

For some weird reason this painting was very hard to photograph................I have been painting outside a lot since the weather has improved. So, this is one I did near my house at low tide yesterday afternoon.

winter docks - begun again - 24x20"

 

I finished the lower horizontal painting of the winter afternoon light on the docks and shrimp boats of Gay Fish Co. - I entered it in the local competition at the Beaufort Art Association's Spring Show. Boy, was this a hard painting to photograph! I must have taken 30 pictures in every possible light in my yard....looks a little dark here but at least there's no glare. Then I decided I would finish the painting at the top which has been languishing on my drying wall for months and months.....also of Gay Fish Co. A place which is not only picturesque, has great shrimp all year and is close to home; but appeared in a tiny portion of the movie "Forrest Gump." As I looked at the picture over the past months, I realized that the values were off so I knew where I had to go. I will end up painting the entire picture over again but the drawing was accurate and I like the concept of it. I began again with the important relationship between the light washed docks and the white building in shadow........hopefully, I will finish it with this pass and not have to put it back up on the drying wall.

storm approach - 14x11" (first day)

I have been doing a bunch of plein air stuff that I have not wished to post but I used a couple of them to begin this one. Unfortunately, I had a bit of drama today..........my cat caught and wounded a baby bird and its parents are furious and seem to be blaming me. I am afraid to move the baby (which is under my porch) because I have always heard that the parents will reject a baby that has been handled by a human. Both parents have staked out my side door and fly right at me when I use the door. The cat doesn't seem fazed in the least but I feel terribly guilty and have apologized to the parents numerous times this afternoon.

off Machete Flats - 10x8" (plein air)

This is a quick plein air from a pull-off spot that has the awesome name of "Machete Flats." I am really trying to learn the colors of the marsh and this was done from about 2 til 4 in the afternoon...... the tide was coming in fast and the light changed very fast.

the shrimper (nearly done) - 16x12"

I have nearly completed this picture and am pleased with it. Fishing boats have always been my favorite type of boat and there are certainly lots of them here - shrimpers rather than New England's lobster boats.