Sky Drama, 8x6 Oil on Canvas Panel, Sunrise Landscape

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I love the dramatic skies we get here. Sunrises are especially fantastic. There is a lot to appreciate about living on the Space Coast of Florida.

This was especially difficult to photograph, and I am still not completely satisfied, but this is the closest I could get. The blue part actually looks darker in the painting, and the bright part brighter. I was very happy with the dramatic effect.

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Am I Blue?, 8x6 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel

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I've been painting lots of clouds lately, partly as a response to my painting group, who asked for cloud lessons. Since clouds are so varied and so wonderful, there is a lot to talk about in painting them. Florida's spectacular sunrises and sunsets present a lot of opportunities for skyscapes, but it is hard to make them look believable. That's because when looking at the real thing it sometimes doesn't look believable. At least there are a few things in nature that we haven't managed to ruin. 

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White and Fluffy, 11x14, Original Oil Painting Skyscape

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I've been studying clouds lately, and I have come to realize that it is just like painting the ocean; every day the shapes, values and colors are different. The good thing about living in Florida (besides the absence of black ice) is that all I have to do for an interesting subject is look up.

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Florida Vista, 8x6 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel

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This is what much of Florida looks like, and it's one part that has not changed. You have to get away from the beach to see scenes like this, and I only hope that most of the pastures and grassy wetlands of Florida won't become housing developments. It's a sort of Growth is Good-Growth is Bad situation. Growth brings jobs, but do you really want to see a scene like this with condos sitting in it? In the end, it's all about balance. 

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P.S. My book, Crackers and Oranges, is now available on Kindle. 

Green Grapes, 8x10 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel

Green Grapes, $150

So that's the best title I could come up with? I must be really tired. I took this photo at an artists' retreat with the Pieces of 8 painting group. We were in Boone, North Carolina, painting at the beautiful Grandfather vineyard. We painted en plein aire, then took photos for future use. It was a wonderful day, hosted by Cindy Michaud. The part of those trips where we sit by the side of a stream and paint--I love that. There's nothing like a trickling stream to lower the blood pressure.

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Sunrise, 6x6 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Seascape

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The ocean and sky put on a show most every day. The colors and shapes change, and even the beach changes drastically when the ocean becomes very exciting and pounds it with surf and erosion. However, this day was a very calm one, and I get a peaceful feeling looking at this painting.

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Jefferson Memorial, 7x5 Oil on Canvas Panel

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I love nocturnal paintings because they are dramatic. Daily painter Karin Jurick used to have challenges on her blog, and I painted this in response to one of her challenges. Another nocturnal painting I like a lot is below, Nighttime at the Loveless Cafe. Any trip we take to Nashville includes a trip to the Loveless Cafe, which is a famous restaurant attached to a 50s motel. We went there one night and spent considerable time waiting to get in, so I had plenty of opportunity to take photos and paint and name the painting in my head.

$95, Click to Buy

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Arizona River, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Panel, Landscape

$125, Click to Buy

When we think of Sedona, Arizona, we think of magnificent vistas and red rocks, but the small scenes are beautiful too. Imagine how much fun a child would have playing here. Sedona is one place I would love to revisit.

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Gypsy Woman, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel

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When I was a kid I always dressed as a gypsy for Halloween. It seemed so glamorous then. I was all decked out in my red skirt with little bells on it and my peasant blouse. Little did I know that real gypsies were more like this woman in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. 

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