Blueberries, Small Daily Painting of Fruit Original Oil on Canvas

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This little painting is a favorite of mine, not only for the colors, but for the fact that it is the sum total of my blueberry crop. My little bush produced these berries then withered and died. I know blueberries can be grown in Florida, but they must be a certain kind, and maybe they are not salt-tolerant; maybe I'm too close to the beach. Just another gardening experiment gone awry.

Speaking of gardening, would someone please tell my weeds it's winter? As the planet gets warmer many of my weeds continue to grow when they should just hibernate. Could I please get a weeding break? On the plus side, I have flowers blooming in the middle of winter. 

Yellow Plumeria, 10x10 Print on Canvas, from Original Oil painting

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This giclee print is available in my Etsy shop in varying sizes, starting with a 10x10-inch on canvas with deep sides (no frame needed). 

I have been invited to join a blog called Ask Me Anything (AMAfeed), and my questions and answers went live yesterday. My AMA feed is all about art, and people have asked some really good questions. Check it out here.

Carmen

The Garden, 11x14 Oil on Panel, Painting of Cheekwood Gardens Scene

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We were in Cheekwood Gardens in Nashville when I saw this scene. It made me think of the many Impressionist paintings I have seen of people sitting in gardens. Impressionists frequently made use of dappled shade in their art, but there wasn't any of that in this spot. The people were sitting in bright sunlight, and seemed a bit overdressed for the warm day.

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Oil Painting, Twisted Sister, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Board, Sedona, Arizona Landscape

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This tree was on a trail that goes up from the Airport Vortex in Sedona, Arizona. We walked the trail until it became so narrow and hazardous that we wisely turned back. The view was breathtaking, and so was the thin air. Below is my husband enjoying the view from the wide part of the trail.

Beach Paradise, Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, 9x6 Seascape Daily Painting

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I'm running out of titles for these beach scenes. How many ways can you describe such a beautiful place? I worked on this while getting windows installed and pavers put down in the driveway. My easel was really the only place I could be out of the way, so the drills were drilling and the saws were sawing, and I pretended I was back on North Captiva Island listening to the sound of the Laughing Gulls.

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Sunrise on the Dunes, 6x8 Original Oil Painting, Seascape with Sunrise

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Florida sunrises are amazing, and seem even more so during thunderstorm season. We get all sorts of weather phenomena this time of year, and the rain is a welcome relief from the awful heat. Our pool was 90 degrees the other day, but after the rains it is 80 degrees. A big difference!

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Night Bloomers, Flower Art, 8x10 Original Oil Painting

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It is so hard to get photos of these flowers, because I have to keep an eye out to catch them blooming. The leaves that they spring from look very unsubstantial. They are white so that they can attract the sphinx moth, their pollinator. 

Cereus supposedly blooms in the summer, but mine just recently bloomed because Florida's winter is freakishly hot this year. We make lots of jokes about it, but it is not natural and I don't appreciate having to pull weeds in the off-season. 

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Blue Pitcher, 11x14 Oil on Canvas Panel Still Life

Donna, Carol and I just returned from the Elio Camacho workshop on Amelia Island, and it was exhausting and fulfilling. Elio is a master of color and kind critiques. We had five days of demos, lectures, intense painting, and shrimp. This was my first effort:

Once again, we ate shrimp at every meal. Fried shrimp, shrimp salad, shrimp chowder, shrimp tacos...I sound like Bubba in "Forrest Gump." Our favorite place was Timoti's, where they displayed this sign:

Now it's time to start preparing for Thanksgiving. Back to the real world!

Carmen

View from SquidLips, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Panel, Florida Scene

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This is the view from a popular restaurant, looking at the Indian River Lagoon right beside the Eau Gallie Causeway in Melbourne, Florida. This was a very pleasant day with my painting buddies. We get somewhat scattered in the summertime, but we paint together faithfully when we are here. Next week we are making a trek to Bok Tower in Central Florida. I painted the below painting a long time ago from a visit to Bok Tower. I grew up near there and wrote a memoir called Crackers and Oranges about my childhood. It was a different time in what we now call "Old Florida." It was before Disney, and the three big attractions were Bok Tower, Silver Springs, and Cypress Gardens, which is now Legoland. Pretty tame compared to the behemoths that are tourist attractions in Orlando these days.

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Take Ten, 5x7 Still Life Coffee Cup

I am continuing my ten-minute painting exercise, and I found this piece of canvas that I had used to practice a spatter effect on. I enjoy doing these quick little paintings on black. I think it makes me use thicker strokes, which is one of my goals. I don't know why it's so hard to put the paint down and leave it alone. If you pick at it, it never gets well. I like my results here, and I am going to continue doing the ten-minute ones for practice.

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White Hydrangeas, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel, Floral Painting

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I had painted this in a different color scheme, and it never appealed to me. Every time I looked at it, something went ick in my head. This was the previous version:

I didn't like the rusty color. I'm just not a rusty person. Creaky, maybe, but not rusty. I decided to give the painting a makeover. I barely touched the flowers themselves, but look how different they appear by changing the colors around them. 

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Ballerina, 8x10 Figurative Oil Painting on Canvas Panel

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This is a change of pace for me. I love the grace of ballerinas, and I try not to think of how their feet must hurt when they are en pointe. They sacrifice so much for their art and yet make it look like they are floating effortlessly. 

Years ago I copied a Degas painting of ballerinas as an educational exercise (below). Our painting group spent a great deal of time copying the Masters, and it was time well spent. Our grand finale was a collaboration on Klimt's "The Kiss,", which we auctioned off for charity.

Being part of a group of like-minded women artists was the best thing I ever did, and I highly recommend it to any artist, experienced or not. There is always something to be learned from others.

Carmen

Lydia at a Tapestry, 24x18 Oil on Canvas, after Mary Cassatt

$175

While reading about Mary Cassatt, I learned about her struggles as a female artist. She had to overcome the prejudice against women painters as well as the obstacles the Impressionists faced seeking acceptance as a new art form. She never gave up, but at a low period she was commissioned by the Archbishop of Pittsburgh to paint two copies of paintings by Corregio. He sent her to Parma, Italy, and at the time she wrote, "Oh, how wild I am to get to work, my fingers farely itch and my eyes water to see a fine picture again." (Spelling was not her strong point)

Her career continued to have highs and lows, and eventually she became a close friend and collaborator of Edgar Degas, who mentored and influenced her work. 

Mary Cassatt was a feminist and supported women's suffrage; despite discouragement from her family and society she persevered and became one of the most well-known artists of her time. It's a familiar story of an artist bucking "the system" to achieve success. 

The model for the above painting was Mary's sister Lydia.

Italian Girl With Flowers, 11x14 Oil on Canvas, after Sorolla

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I've had no time for painting this week, so I am posting a throwback to 2008, when our painting group, Pieces of Eight, decided to copy Impressionist masters as a learning exercise. I love Sorolla, so I copied one of my favorites, with the above result. Below is the original by Sorolla.

I also copied John Singer Sargent, the master portrait artist. The best thing I've ever done is team up with seven women with the same passion for painting that I have. It has been such an enriching experience in so many ways, and I have learned so much. 

                    Carmen

Sunshiny Day, 10x8 Oil on Canvas Panel, Original Landscape Art

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This was the kind of day that just lifts your mood, and I hope I got that in my painting. It was sunny and bright, with nice fluffy clouds in a bright blue sky. It's hard to feel like a curmudgeon when you get to live in an environment like this. Makes me feel like going kayaking, which is on my bucket list. After all, the water is all around us here, what am I waiting for? It's got to be a lot easier than that whitewater rafting adventure that threw four of us women out on the rocks in North Carolina. My friend Donna said at the time that we bonded over a near-death experience--and I think she was right!

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Cypress Gardens, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Panel, Daily Painting

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I grew up near Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida, and I loved the beautiful gardens, the ski show, and the girls sitting in the gardens in their big Southern-Belle dresses. Now it's part of Legoland and the gardens are still there, but the Belles are gone except for one made of Legos. The gardens are still beautiful. This is a typical scene; in fact, you see this all over Winter Haven. There are so many lakes that no road goes straight, and you see many scenes like this one. 

This is not a very good photo of my painting. It has so much dark color that it glares in a photo, and overcoming the glare didn't help the rest of the picture. However, I broke my pinky toe, and I just don't want to hobble around trying to get another shot. My patience is gone, and all I want is elevation and ice. My diminutive digit is derailing my drive.

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Silver Sandals, 20x24, Oil on Canvas

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I painted this a few years ago, when my daughter was getting ready for my sister's wedding. Painting a mural and having Thanksgiving has made my painting time negligible, so I went to the past for this one. What a jolly good time we had at the wedding, which was in beautiful Middleburg, Virginia.

Speaking of Middleburg, they have a wonderful annual Shakespeare festival, "Shakespeare in the Burg," and next year's date is April 2-3. Click here for details:

http://shakespeareintheburg.com/

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By the Jetty, 8x10 Oil Painting Seascape on Canvas Panel

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I do many ocean vistas, but sometimes a closeup is fun. These waves were not crashing against the rocks, but they were caressing them, you might say. This was at Port Canaveral's Jetty Park, on one of those sunny, exhilarating days that just naturally fuel enthusiasm. 

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River Dock, 8x6 Oil on Canvas

This is a study for a mural that I'm going to paint when I get time. I took time out for a couple of days and went with my friend Kathy Garvey to Polk County, where I grew up. While there we visited the Dundee Depot Museum and I donated a copy of my book, Crackers and Oranges, which is a memoir about growing up in Dundee.

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Pelicans in Flight, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Panel, Seascape with Birds

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I feel fortunate when I catch a flock of pelicans in flight; with a digital camera at the beach and all the movement going on, it is like shooting blind. 

We are expecting a lot of wave action this weekend due to hurricane Joaquim, so I will be down there with my camera. I'm just so thankful we haven't been hit in 11 years. Makes you wonder why our insurance premiums are still outrageous (grumble grumble).

Carmen