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.

Carmen

Memories of Old Florida

It's been five days since my last confession, I mean, post. I've neglected my daily painting while continuing to work on my memoir about my childhood in Central Florida. It is an illustrated memoir, inspired by artist Diana Gessler. Above I am singing, "Peg O' My Heart" in my dad's restaurant, and below, when I was a bit older, floating in Lake Marie, ignoring (and being ignored by) alligators.

I haven't forgotten my list of biggest gripes and irritants. Here is my No. 11:

People who move here to Florida then complain that the food was better in New York/New Jersey.

How can that be? Half the restaurants here are owned by people from New York/New Jersey.

The Kayakers, 16x20 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

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This is a completed commission. I took a few photos as I went along, and put them together as a very brief little slideshow. Check it out on Facebook. In retrospect I wish I had cropped the photos; I had some misguided idea that it would look very much "in progress" if a little of the easel showed. 

On to the next commission, then on Monday I am challenging my painting group Pieces of 8 to do a painting in only 37 minutes. The idea came from Robert Genn, who did this exercise in his workshops. It is an agonizing exercise, and I hope we will all still be friends after it's over! 

Carmen

The Kayakers, 16x20 Oil on Canvas So Far

I am working on a commission, doing a larger painting of my small work The Kayakers, and I thought I would post the beginning of the painting. When Grandma Moses was asked about her process and how she painted, she responded "I paint down. I start at the top and paint down." As for me, sometimes I sort of "paint down" if it's a landscape, but in this case I started with the principal subject and I'm painting out. 

Since I have painted this subject before, I know what I am aiming for and I know the colors, values and so on, so I concentrated my energy on the most important part of the painting first. Below is the 6x6-inch original small painting of the happy kayakers. It's a square format, but the large one will be a rectangular format and, of course, more detailed.

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Fall Island, 8x6 Oil on Canvas

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Well, my ten-year-old Mac finally let me down, and at a crucial time. I did manage to post on my iPad, but not everything worked exactly like I wanted. Now I am looking at my brand-new marvel of technology with a giant screen and no box, no round little base, no nothing that indicates there are magical things going on inside to help me do my job. Once you go Mac...

The painting above is on Lake Oconee, Georgia, a little island we pontooned to and explored. It is just a beautiful place. 

If you are in Central Florida, save the date! The big Pieces of 8 Holiday Sale is December 7, and you can click here to link to the map.

Piney Island, 5x7 Oil on Canvas

This scene was painted  in plein air very near our campsite in the Everglades. The only wildlife was an alligator lolling at the shore and a huge black spider that got on my paper towels, possible a Regal Jumping Spider, though I can't be sure. I flicked him away without introductions.

Painting the scene

 

These photos are courtesy of Kathy. Here Cindy and I are in the mangrove forest, a wonderful tangled, twisting example of some of the world's most amazing trees. 

The Loons, 10x10 Collage on Canvas

I saw these beautiful loons when I was in a boat on Big Lake in Alaska. Hearing their mournful calls from far away is quite nice, but they have some other calls that are not as appealing. Male and female loons look alike, but the male is a bit larger. They can dive to depths of 32 yards and can stay submerged for fifteen minutes. That's my loon lesson for the day.

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Cranes on Lake Toho, 5x7

This is East Lake Tohopekeliga in Central Florida. It is a huge lake, full of bass fishermen. These cranes were ambling along, unbothered by all the humans around. When I was growing up in Central Florida, we had no pools, just lakes, and swimming was our main activity. The lakes were clean, alligators were less in number and afraid of humans...those were the good old days.

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