Shore

This is the last mini I painted.

Watercolor  8 X 10 Matted

Dunes & Gulls

Another mini.  I just may paint a full sheet of a similar scene.

Watercolor   19 X 8 Matted

Dee

Dee was the model last Tuesday.  She is very pretty and petite.  And she is engaged to an old friend from Indian Creek.

Watercolor  10X14

Beach

More Mini Masters.  But these will be donated to my family.  I am flying to visit family in Massachusetts & New Hampshire for Christmas.  I have mailed some paintings to them all ready.  These are just fun and will fit in my carry on luggage.

Watercolor   Matted 10 X 8

Pier at Times Square

These mini masters are so cute, I don't want to donate them.   But I will.  Then I can paint a larger painting using the same design and color.

Watercolor  8X 10 matted

Katherine

Katherine Miller posed for our Portrait Group last Tuesday.  She is a great model and she is so pretty.

Watercolor  9 X 14

Time Square FMB Clock

Another Mini Master.  Our visitors to Fort Myers Beach like to take home a memory.  The Clock at Time Square is very popular.

Watercolor   3 1/2 X 5 1/2

Clock at Time Square

The push is on at Fort Myers Beach Art Association to sell our Mini Masters.  We sell them for only $10.00 and the proceeds go into our operating fund.  We have already sold more than 30 in the last week.  So I am painting more to replenish the supply.  I all ready have donated four little paintings.  I just finished two more. 

Watercolor  3 1/2 X 5 1/2

Daisy & Book

This is an old painting.  It has been hiding at H&R Block.  I thought it was sold.

Watercolor  20 X16 matted & framed

Michele

It was nice to have Michele pose for our Portrait Group last Wednesday.  She works so hard for our art league.  Last year she was president and this year she is FMBAA web site chairman.  She also was chairman for Paint the Beach.  As I look at our yearbook I see she is also publicity chairman, experimentalists chairman, and hanging chairman.  Wow!  Visit her blog:  http://www.michelestraveltales.blogspot.com/

Watercolor  14 X 11

Dancing Mangroves

Wednesday's plein aire was at at Matanzas Preserve on the bay by Fort Myers Beach.  There are lots of mangroves.  I love the way the mangrove limbs snake this way and that.  But they are difficult to paint.  When you look, you see layers of layers of sunlit branches.  I painted the leaves first, then I painted negative darks behind the leaves leaving lots of white paper that represented the light I was seeing.  Then I tinted those whites with various soft colors.

Watercolor  14 X 11

Lily & Lily Pads

Last Friday I taught a Batik class.  I had seven students.  We all had fun and I hope everyone learned lots.  This painting I finished in the class as one of the demonstrations.

Batik 8 1/2 X 10 1/2

Plein-Aire Painting

I am painting on the beach in front of Joanne Shamp's beach house on the Gulf. 

Red Coconut RV Park

This was our  paint-out location last Wednesday.  I loved the way the shadow of the palm tree hit the trailer.

Watercolor  14X11

Dad's Day

This is a little painting.  They are fun to do. 
Watercolor  4X4

Golden Beach

This Paint the Beach Painting was painted at Bowditch Park.  I was in the shade the whole morning so it was fun.  I put a path in the composition in memory of Maya Bryant.  She was magic.  She would take an ordinary paint-out destination and turn it into masterpiece.  We all miss Maya. 
The painting was painted in yellows and oranges.  It makes a happy painting. 

Watercolor   20X16 Framed   Sold

Beach Shrimp Boat

Last Tuesday & Wednesday, I was out by 7 AM painting for "Paint the Beach"  This was the first painting.  There are lots of Shrimp boats to paint.  It is a popular subject.  I started drawing the painting in the fog.  It was nice and cool.  Then the sun came out and the temperature rose to the 80s.  I tried to put an umbrella up but it was too windy.  I finished the painting in the sun with breaks sitting in the shade of a big truck.
I framed the paintings on Thursday and forgot to take a photo.  So you can see reflections on the glass.  It was all worth it.  I sold both paintings Friday night at the big Paint the Beach gala.

Watercolor   20X16 framed   Sold

Gulf Breeze Cottages

I have been painting.  But there are too many other obligations in my like.  Today I painted out with the Sanibel Art Group on Sainibel Island at Gulf Breeze Cottages.  Cute cottages right next to the gulf.  I am happy with my painting.  I conquered all those greens.

Watercolor  14X10

Hooter's Beach

Paintout today was the beach in front of Hooter's.  All I saw when I sat down to paint was the sky.  Fort Myers doesn't have many cloudy skies.  But we have big skies.  So my painting is a painting of the sky.  Watercolor paints itself.  I wet the paper except where I wanted the whitest cloud.  That sky was finished in five minutes.  Our Fort Myers Beach sand is white.  I usually paint it yellow, pink and blue.  But today I left it white.

Watercolor  13X10

First Paint-Out of the Season

Three different scenes were attempted by me last Wednesday when the FMBAA outdoor paint group got together at Joann Shamp's.  None of the three were successful.  This painting was lopsided.  I had painted the water, the sky and the buildings and a few sea grass.  It just needed something on the right.  So I painted in the boat and the man pulling it to shore and added more grass.  With watercolor, I have to scrub out where the man and the boat go.  I draw it in, tape around with masking tape and use a toothbrush to remove the color.

Watercolor  12X8

Armadillo

I used a different masa paper to paint the armadillo.  When I put the wax on to define the texture of the armadillo armor, it spread and made a bigger spot than I intended.  So he is an artistic armadillo.

Batik  12X9

Greek Fishing Boat

The paper was again prepared using the light pink wash to make a glow.  This painting was from a photo that I took when I was in Greece.

Watercolor 14X10

Figures by Design

Again another painting inspired by a Florida Watercolor Society demo.  A wet watercolor sheet is covered with leaves, weeds, paper & junk.  Then I painted around each object and let it dry.  I removed all the stuff and painted a photo with design.

Watercolor  27X18

Illumination

Last weekend was the Florida Watercolor Convention.  There were lots of demos.  This painting of sails was painted using Janet King's technique.  After wetting her paper, she paints her watercolor paper softly with Jaune Brilliant #1 & #2 and Permanent Pink and lets it dry.  Illumination, the paper glows. 

Watercolor  14X10

Portrait Design

I watched a video, Polly Hammett, Design with the Figure.  So this is a picture of my granddaughter Jill.  I made a black background and a black shirt.  I will paint it again with different combinations.  The face was painted with Opera and then wiped off.  I am not using the same watercolor paper as Polly does, so it doesn't wipe off as well.

Watercolor, Black Sumi Ink and Watercolor Pencils  10X14

Red Poppies

Red Poppies is another batik.  It was started with lots of wax painted on the white masa paper before I started painting.  Definitely the trick to a sparkling watercolor.

Batik  12X8

Portrait V

I have not been painting.  I decided I must start matting and framing all the paintings I have done the last few months.  The art season will be here soon with lots of shows and opportunities to sell my art.  Matting and framing is very time consuming.  It takes time away from my painting.
Below is another portrait that I did in the portrait class.

Watercolor

Batik Red Coconuts

Look familiar?  I just redid the smaller painting larger.  On the white masa paper, I started off with a drawing of wax where ever there was white or a light color.  After the wax was ironed off, I adjusted those whites with a layer of watercolor paint. 

Batik  8X11

Batik Egrets

We now have a big group doing batik in the summer Fort Myers Beach Art Association Wednesday & Thursday's open day of painting.  It is fun seeing what subjects are chosen.  The batik is more successful using bold colors.  I just painted around the white egret.

Batik  10X12

Batik Coconuts

It was fun painting the coconut tree with all the fronds cascading over the coconuts.  But I did not like the final painting.  So I cut it down the middle and made two small paintings.  They will be 8X10 framed. 

Batik  4X6

Batik  4X6

Portrait IV

Watercolor  15X10

Four Sunflowers Batik

This batik was not outlined.  The definition of stems and leaves without the outlining got lost.  I used different color darkening paint in the wrinkled cracks. 

Batik  10X13

Spain Street Scene

You are just getting a preview.  I have been working on this oil painting since Tuesday.  It needs at least another days work.  I may just wait until the oil paint dries to do the final details. 

Oil  20X26

Portrait III

Another portrait done during the season in the Portrait Class

Watercolor  14X10

Parrot Batik

I have always wanted do a painting of a parrot. 

Batik  8X10

Sunflower Batik

This took many layers of wax.  First layer of wax was where the white was saved.  Then I painted everything with yellow.  Next layer of wax was over the yellow but only where I wanted the yellow value. 

Batik  10X14

Emily & Charlotte

Batik again but the final darkening effect is softer.  I like it better. 

Batik  10X10

Edison House Batik

Another attempt at batik.  I am not happy with it.  The subject with all the blue sky isn't good in batik.  Too dark.

Batik on Watercolor  14X10

Portrait II

You can see the variety of models we have in our Portrait Class.

 Watercolor  13X19

Portrait I

This was done in the Portrait Class.  We take a vacation in the summer.  The class will start up again late October.  Every Tuesday from 1PM until 3 or 4.  We don't have professional models.  It is my favorite art activity
Watercolor  9X12

Is This Your Boat

I had the oils squeezed out so I painted another oil.  Oil is the Cadillac of paint mediums.  It is easy to blend, to copy the color correctly.  But it is messy.  I have paint everywhere.  On my shirt, my arms, my face, my glasses.  But it is worth it.

Oil on Canvas  14X11 

Water Fun

This is an oil.  The painting is still wet.  The reference is a photo taken in Tacoma, Washington.  It was a warm sunny day and lots of kids were playing in the wading pool.  I just painted a few kids but I have all ready started a second painting. 

Oil on Stretched Canvas  14X11

Batik Blue Heron

I created this painting the same time as the Ibis.  One of the steps is ironing the waxed masa paper between paper.  The iron & iron board is put up once for two paintings. 

Batik  11X11

Batik Ibis

I will be teaching a class in batik December.  The painting starts with a watercolor on masa paper.  Then a layer of wax.  There are a lot of steps but the results are worth it.

Batik  11X9

Yellow Sky

Another plein air painting that I found under the couch.  I like to be creative with color.  During the season, I may paint three days in a row.  Portrait class on Tuesdays, plein air with the beach art league on Wednesday, and again on Thursday plein air with the Sanibel art group.  So I don't get back to finish the previous days painting. 

Watercolor 21X14

Hollyhocks

This is my first Washington State painting.  I took lots of interesting photos when I visited my son and his family last week.

Watercolor  8X11

Dixie Fish Co Again

This was painted during a Fort Myers Beach Art Association Wednesday paintout,  I have painted the Dixie Fish Co many times.  I could have my own show.

Watercolor  17X11

Spotlight

Susanne discovered a new application in Photoshop.  Filter - Render - Lighting Effects.  It spotlights the painting. This painting I posted before but I added more detail.  And the texture shows great with the spotlight.

Acrylic on Board  12X16