Calm Sea, 5x7 Oil on Panel

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This is what I saw this morning when I walked the beach. The other day when I was walking there, big waves were crashing ashore; today the sea was flat and calm. It was very peaceful.

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5-Day Challenge, Day 5: Big Ole Vidalia, 5x7 Oil on Panel

This is the final day of the challenge to paint a small artwork in 20 minutes. So happy that #ArtWorkLivingChallenge has done this online exercise. People did some beautiful things in a measly 20 minutes! It makes you have to plan and think, instead of just jumping in. Thanks, Mary Gilkerson.

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5-Day Challenge, Day 3: Beach Day, 7x5 Oil on Panel

Before I began this, my third 20-minute painting, I couldn't resist drawing a cartoon about the experience of doing a painting in such a short amount of time.

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More 50-Stroke Paintings

 I did more paintings in only 50 strokes, as it is great practice for me since I tend to overdo details if I'm enjoying myself too much. It takes a great deal of concentration to limit my strokes and still arrive at a recognizable result.

I highly recommend this exercise for any painter who wants to simplify.

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Peach Canna Lilies Original Painting, 5x7 Oil on Canvas Panel

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This is another of my "Pool Paintings," a portion of my garden viewed at eye level from my pool. There are peach Canna Lilies, little blue Plumbago flowers, and in the foreground, bromeliads. When I saw the early morning shadows behind the Canna Lilies I knew I had to paint them. The bromeliads look big because they were much closer to me. 

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Sky Vine, 5x7 Oil Painting Pool Series No. 3

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This is the third painting I've done while standing in the pool. In our record-setting heat, it's the only way to go. It's a good thing I got this done, because Hurricane Dorian is on the way and will devastate this Sky Vine and most everything else in the yard. My painting from the pool is coming to a screeching halt.

As you can see, I added a few more flowers to my painting. Just couldn't resist.

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Heliconia Painted from My Pool 5x7 Oil Painting on Canvas Landscape

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This is the first in a series of paintings done while standing my pool. I have been noticing how good my garden looks at eye level from the pool, so I started with a view of my Lobster Claw Heliconia, which is a fascinating and unusual plant. It likes all the rain we've had, and was good enough to put one of its blooms right in front for me.

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Paradise, Oil on Canvas 7x5 Florida Painting

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This is my second painting of this spot. This is a small 7" by 5" painting of North Captiva Island, a place that is as good as being in the Bahamas. No cars, just golf carts, and gorgeous scenery. No bridge to the island, either. Life there runs on Island Time. Ahhhh.....

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The Boring Photo Challenge, 7x5 Small Daily Painting

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I painted this little oil painting in response to a challenge on the website DailyPaintworks.com. The challenge was to paint from a boring photo. That is a really good thing to practice, because I have lots of boring photos; however, I used the one they posted. I began with a black background, which helped add a bit more drama. Below is the boring photo.

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Royal Terns, 7x5 Original Oil Daily Painting on Canvas Panel Beach Art

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I love these birds with their cute little hairdos. I have jumped right from the mountains to the seashore in this blog, having returned home after almost three weeks in North Carolina. The contrast is drastic, but I love both places. Each is beautiful in its own way.

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Jellyfish, Original Oil Painting Marine Life 5x7 Daily Painting

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Jellyfish are so weird. The bell height and diameter can range from one millimeter to nearly two meters, depending upon the type of jellyfish. The tiny little box jellyfish is one of the most deadly, and practically invisible in the water. The lion's mane jellyfish has tentacles that can extend 36 meters! Surprisingly, the cosmopolitan hydrozoan jellyfish lives in fresh water. It is less than an inch in diameter, colorless, and doesn't sting. 

The jellyfish depicted above is the Pacific sea nettle.

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But Cereusly, Original Oil Painting on Panel 8x8 Flower Art

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I have called these flowers Dragonflower, Cereus, Night-Blooming Cereus, and I still am not sure of the proper name. I welcome any enlightenment anyone can give me. All I know is, it's very hard to catch it blooming, and I was happy to get a good picture of it.

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Windmill, 6x9 Mixed Media on Paper, Bronze and Black

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I painted good-quality watercolor paper with bronze acrylic paint, then used liquid medium to transfer the windmill from a magazine print. I added the tulips to make it more interesting. It's too bad that the metallic effect of the bronze can't be fully appreciated when looking at it online.

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Twenty-Minute Challenge

My friend Donna Vines introduced me to artist Mary Gilkerson's 20-minute challenge, which means doing a small painting in just 20 minutes. Here is my first attempt, a scene in Florence, Italy. I learned from this one that the subject was a bit too complex for a 20-minute execution!

This was my second attempt, and it went much easier. No buildings or people!

I was more deliberate with this last one, and stopped panicking over the time ticking by.

If you want to paint more loosely, this is a great exercise. One important tip: mix up your paint before you set the time.

Below is a page from my sketch journal, starting with my gym class the other day. Jean Thomas's class really inspired me to sketch more about everyday happenings.

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Oil Painting "Rough Surf" Seascape, Small Daily Painting Original Art

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This was my second painting from our group's plein air day at the beach, a tiny 5x7-inch seascape. We meet a lot of nice people when we are painting on location. One group had just ridden 30 miles on bicycles, and it was only 10 a.m! People like that make me feel like a slug, but when given a choice between painting and exercise, painting usually wins out. If there is a creative fire within you it won't be quenched by pushups.

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Window on the Beach, Oil Painting, 7x5 Florida Seascape

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My painting group gathered at the beach on a beautiful Florida day last week and did some plein air painting. That is always an invigorating experience, and I was happy with my little picture. In picking my spot I noticed how vivid the water looked when viewed through the sea grape window. When I walked to the crossover and looked at the beach with nothing framing it, it didn't seem nearly as saturated with color. I'm sure my friend Qiang Huang could explain this to me in technical terms because he knows everything about optics and about art.

My cartoon today is one I did for a T-Shirt. It's called "The Pleininator" and features a hat with a brush holder, paper tower holder, citronella candle, cup holder, and viewfinder. My inspiration was when I painted in a cow pasture with weeds, bugs, and extreme thirst.

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Young Cardinal, 6x8 Oil Painting, Wildlife Art

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This was an experiment, adding punch to this painting with vivid color. Baby birds are just so cute, especially when all fluffed up.

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Like an iPhone Cowboy, 6x8 Small Oil Painting on Canvas

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I was hiking with our painting group, high in the Smoky Mountains, when I saw this man talking on his phone. Subsequently, he almost fell off the horse, which makes me wonder what kind of disturbing conversation it must have been. I do like the pretty little horse. You never know what you'll see in the mountains.

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Bermuda Scene, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel Seascape

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The past three weeks have reminded me of when I lived in Bermuda, because we have a leak under the slab of our house and have not had the water turned on, except to quickly get essentials done. In Bermuda we caught our water on the roof and it went into a tank under the house.

When we first lived there we thought we had a leak in the tank, because we ran out of water. The local Bermudians advised us that the leak was at the top; namely, us. We learned to conserve water very carefully, with bricks in the toilet tank, turning off the water while brushing, etc. An interesting note: the tank had blind goldfish in it for the purpose of eating mosquito larvae. Yes, we drank from that tank, and the water was cleaner than it is in most of the United States.

We lived in Diamond Cottage on Suffering Lane; that was our actual address, no house numbers. In spite of the rainy winters, it was a wonderful place to live. There was beauty in every direction.

The scheduled date for our house to be replumbed is Election Day. Yes, we already voted!

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Dragonfly Wings, Watercolor on Paper, 11x14 Wildlife Painting

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This departure from my norm is in response to the September challenge for the Pieces of Eight painting group, to create art from patterns in nature. I love oils, but it's fun to do watercolor now and then. There is an actual blue dragonfly like the one I painted.

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