Yellow Plumerias, 10 x 10 Original Oil Painting on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas

$250, Click to Purchase

Sometimes I wonder if my subjects are too varied, or if my media are too diverse. I display on this blog and other websites my array of oil paintings, collages, and zentangles; my subject matter is landscape, seascape, still life, floral, wildlife, figurative, abstract and fantasy. A quote from the late Robert Genn gave me heart. He said:

"If an artist underestimates capability or goes too long with outworn motifs, interest fades and motivation fails. Complexity, nuance, even novelty, need to be consciously added to the mix."

Sameness on a blog is boring, so I will keep trying to grow and change it up now and then. I suppose my floral painting above is not the best illustration for this discussion, since it is a realistic flower painting, but I don't think it's too ho-hum, do you?

Carmen

Flight, 5x7 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Seascape with Bird

Flight, $99 Click to Purchase

This shot was so lucky--it's so hard to see what you're shooting with a digital camera when facing the sun. It was early morning, and I caught this pelican flying solo right in front of the sun, as though in a spotlight. I am posting the original photo below just to prove it. Another problem with a digital camera is that photos that are facing the sun tend to darken everything around the bright light, so I added color in my painting to compensate for that. The photo is not a black-and-white shot in spite of the way it looks.

Alexandra, 5x7 Oil Painting on Canvas, Scene in English Garden

NFS

My sister took this picture of our friend Alexandra during the week of her wedding. I was struck by the colors, the pose, and her reflection in the water (I'm a sucker for reflections). I broke the rules of composition by placing her smack in the middle top half of the picture, and I like it. Her beautiful red hair is the piece de resistance.

Carmen

Fairy Cottage, 8x10 Pen and Ink Drawing, Zentangle-Inspired

$35, Click to Purchase

When I am making up my own little fantasy world like this it is almost as good as reading fairy tales as a child. I start with a simple drawing, then let the patterns take me where they want to go. I try to use different values to add interest and form. 

I put my drawing in a double mat, which really gives it a nice finished look. It is ready to frame now.

Raindrops on My Window, 6x6 Original Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Floral Still Life Daily Painting

$99, Click to Purchase

I decided to do a small floral still life in a loose style. When I finished, I hated it. I grabbed my palette knife and started scraping it, then I thought, "This looks very pretty." It looked like a window with rain on it, so I went with that. I added droplets and streaks of rain running down the window, and now I have a "mood" painting of a view through a wet window.

Carmen

Pink Hibiscus, 18x24 Original Oil Painting on Canvas, Large Floral Painting

$250, Click to Purchase

Our painting group got together yesterday to paint in a Georgia O'Keeffe style. This is the closest I could get. I didn't want to copy her, just do a large floral painting in a simple style similar to hers. It was a lot of fun using a big brush to do most of it. I may do some more of these.

Carmen

The Kiss, Original 5x7 Oil Painting, Seascape with Kissing Couple

$99, Click to Purchase

What could be better than the beach and kissing? I wonder if they were on their honeymoon? I love catching a moment in time like this, especially a romantic one.

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.

Orange Blossom Special, 5x7 Oil Painting

$99, Click to Purchase

I grew up in Central Florida, where the sweet smell of orange blossoms filled the air. This original oil painting is on the cover of the memoir I am working on about growing up in the small town of Dundee. After living many different places in the world, I settled on the coast of Florida, two hours from where I was born. In the days of my childhood, Dundee was all about oranges, so choosing a cover theme was easy.

Still Life with Zen, 9x9 Pen and Ink Drawing

Click to Purchase, $35

I haven't been doing much artwork this week, except for illustrations for a memoir I am working on. It's now time for me to paint the cover art, and that will be a relief, after sitting at the computer for three days straight getting the book laid out.

The drawing above was our challenge presented by Kathy Garvey to the Pieces of 8 last week. The challenge was to make everything look flat and one-dimensional. I think I slipped up with the zentangles inside the mango (between the glass and the teapot.) They are giving it some shape. I admit that's my favorite part of the drawing.

No. 10 on my list of things we should not put up with, yet we do:

Grocery products are getting smaller, yet costing more. There is either less in the package (like coffee and sugar), or the product itself shrinks (like toilet paper that is getting narrower and narrower in width), yet the cost is higher. You might say less is more.