Outer Bands, 14x11 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

View on Etsy

 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.

Carmen

All About the Clouds, 9x6 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Daily Painting Skyscape

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This painting started out to be a cardinal (the bird, not the church office).  I went to my painting group, Pieces of Eight, with my palette all loaded with colors for painting a cardinal, and found I didn't have my photo of that cute little bird. I shifted gears and painted a cloud scene instead, using my palette of colors meant for painting a cardinal. 

Where is the red, you ask? It's there, helping make the brown. It's also in the purple of the clouds. 

Don't miss our group challenge on our blog on June 1st. It's very different from anything else we've done.

Carmen

Hot Air Balloons, 8x10 Original Oil Painting, Skyscape on Canvas

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I decided I wanted to just paint clouds. When I was done it looked like it needed something more, so I added hot air balloons to punch it up. I'm happy with the result, but I think the balloonists had better head home, because the weather doesn't look so good.

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Dawn, 6x6 Oil on Canvas, Sunrise with Palm Trees

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With our gorgeous Florida skies, I barely have to move to be inspired. I can see beautiful sights right outside my window. I got a little wilder than usual with this one. 

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Beach People, 10x8 Oil on Canvas Panel, Seascape Daily Painting

$125, Click to Purchase

As I am writing this it's pouring outside. I hardly know what is left to say about a sunny beach, I have posted so many, so I'll just say I'm glad to see the rain. I am growing Purple Hull Peas, and I know no one north of the Mason-Dixon line knows what I'm talking about. They are the most delicious vegetable one could ever put in one's mouth; they are the Ambrosia of the vegetable world. Though tedious to shell, they are worth it. What could be better than shelling Purple Hulls while watching Last Tango in Halifax? Of course this assumes that I successfully raise a crop. Flowers come easily to me, but vegetables--not so much. We'll see. 

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Light of Dawn II, 7x5 Small Seascape Oil Painting, Sunrise Over Ocean

$89, Purchase Here

It's amazing how you can cross busy Highway A1A and leave the chaos behind just by walking on the crossover to the beach. It's like a curtain comes down behind you and you are in a new world. It's peaceful (usually), and there are waves, and birds, and beautiful light. I get the same feeling when I walk from a busy road into the woods. It is so quiet and peaceful. We are so used to noise in our daily lives that we don't even realize how jarring it really is.

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Light of Dawn, 6x6 Oil on Canvas, Skyscape Over Ocean, Daily Painting

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When clouds are on the horizon at dawn, the sunrise is always beautiful. It's one of the nice things about living so close to the beach. When I'm photographing a sunrise it always amazes me how fast the light and the colors change. 

Carmen

Pastel Sea, 10x8 Original Oil Seascape

$125, Buy Now

Despite the title of this painting, it is not a pastel, it's an oil. It's the scene that is pastel. Sometimes the sea and sky are soft colors, which makes for a peaceful painting. In fact, I believe I hear it calling me right now...I need to go down there and walk a while...

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking...

"Sea Fever" by John Masefield

Peachy Sunrise, 10x8 Original Oil

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Can't get enough of clouds lately. It's unusual for me to stick with one subject this long. Many artists paint the same thing over and over, and their work looks very cohesive when observing their whole oeuvre, whereas mine has oils, collage, and zentangles in a variety of subject matter. I just can't help myself. I love all media, and I get bored if I stick with one subject for too long. I am trying to catch up after all the years in a government job. The only programs I am analyzing now are the ones that get my work online most effectively. 

Carmen

Thundercloud, 10x8 Original OIl on Canvas Skyscape

$125, Buy Now

I love to paint stormy weather, and this thundercloud looks like it wants to produce a tornado. Florida does have exciting weather, but no hurricanes for the past ten years. I think I prefer hurricanes to the harsh winter conditions up north right now. Floridians were punished for the last hurricanes by having our insurance rates jacked up, yet when there are no disasters the rates stay up. I suppose that's happening all over the country. Some companies simply drop you after you make a claim. 

Don't I sound whiny? I just wonder if this happens everywhere, considering that all of last year it seemed there was a natural disaster somewhere every time I turned on the news. Are other states at the mercy of the insurance companies? Or are the insurance companies truly suffering from having to pay so many claims? I'd like to know.

Carmen

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

$99, Click to Buy

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.

Carmen

Texas Bluebonnets, 8x10 Oil on Canvas

NFS

Van Gogh would have liked these flowers. They are pretty ornate, with little white dots all over them, so the big decision is: how much detail? I may go back and put a bit of blue in the sky, even though there wasn't any, just so the painting doesn't seem quite so divided into three parts. 

Carmen