Outer Bands, 14x11 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

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 We were on the Pineda Causeway, crossing the Indian River, when we saw this. It looked the same in every direction. Hurricane Idalia was raging on the western side of the state, and we got this. We were very lucky once again. Other parts of Florida were not so fortunate.

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Hurricane Gift, 10x8 Original Oil Painting, Florida Beach

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I call this "Hurricane Gift" because even a terrible storm can yield something beautiful. This driftwood was on North Captiva Island, Florida, and was the result of a hurricane years ago. Now the island is recovering from Hurricane Ian and debris is everywhere after that hard hit. Their lush growth will return, just as it always does.

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Camp Holly, 11x14 Original Florida Oil Painting

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I took this photo from an airboat as we were returning from an excursion on the St. Johns River. It is an attraction for people hoping to see alligators, but this is not the season. We saw only one. Camp Holly is a popular spot, and has been since 1923! Can you imagine how wild it was around here back then? 

Painting this was like putting a puzzle together, and by the time I was done I felt I had been back there for a long stay.

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Halie and Passionflower, Original Oil on Canvas 12x12

I painted this from a photo I have had for over twenty years. This is my granddaughter with one of the multitude of passionflowers we used to have in our yard, until we found they all ended up in the pool. I miss the days when my grandchildren were babies, and I miss our arbor being covered with passionflower vines, thick with sweet-smelling flowers.

 

Myakka State Park, Florida Landscape 14x11

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Our family visited beautiful Myakka State Park and went on this hiking trail. We also did a boat tour across the big lake, and it is infested with alligators. An environmentalist might say it is a refuge for alligators, but my word for it is infested. We learned on the tour that Florida's alligator population got down to 500, then they became protected and now there are five million. I used to wonder why we could safely jump in any lake we came upon in Florida and now we can't. They were afraid of humans then and no one was idiotic enough to feed them. 

My uncle was a gator trapper for the state until he was over 70 years old. His job was to remove threatening gators, and they can't be shot like in the TV shows you may have seen. He brought them back alive. He said they have a tiny brain, but are wily creatures. He came by one day with his boat on a trailer and it had a big chomp out of it. The gator fought back.

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Black Grapes, Original Oil Painting Still Life, 10x8

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I had to get with it and paint the grapes again before they shriveled into raisins. This is another small painting, oil on canvas panel, 10x8 inches.

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Black Grapes, Still Life 8x10 Original Oil Painting

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Sometimes I just have the best time painting. I had a canvas that was painted green from a painting I considered a "scraper" (which is a nice word for a disappointing painting). I did a 20-minute still life and got a little of the background filled in when the timer went off. I liked this well enough to finish it. Here is the stage I reached in twenty minutes:

What an ugly green color. It needed obliterating. 

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Florida Surf Scene, 8x10 Oil Painting on Canvas

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 As mentioned in my previous post, Mary Gilkerson's Art+Work+Living.com web page periodically has a five-day challenge to do a painting in 20 minutes. This is such a good exercise, especially for daily painters. I stuck to the time limit to produce this ocean scene. The horizontal dark lines were exactly as depicted.

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Exercise in Art, 20 Minute Painting, Wildlife Refuge

Inspired by Mary Gilkerson's 20-minute challenge, I did this 8x10 oil on canvas in 20 minutes. This is a great exercise in "loosening up," though it is very nerve-wracking. What is supposed to loosen me up tenses me up.

I went back and refined the painting, with the following result. 

Next time I will do 20 minutes, then leave it as is. You don't know how hard that is, unless you're an artist.

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