St Augustine Sunrise

Before I start on finishing my painting I started yesterday, I wanted to post this little 5x7 that I did from a photo I shot on St Augustine Beach. I used my sunset setting while shooting and it almost looks more like a sunset, but I liked the vivid colors and decided it was still interesting. I am practicing self-control on my new painting. I like to finish in one sitting and yesterday after doing the initial lay in , the sky and middle ground, I decided to let it be, as the foreground will be the focus and I wanted to take my time. I read a lot about painters spending day even weeks on one painting and decided, maybe, just maybe, it might be good for the painting to take more time and think things through before I slap on my paint.

SunFlowers in Copper Pitcher

I decided to break loose from the small paintings that I have been doing, which I will eventually post, and do a 16 by 20 using large brushes. I wanted to be loose and just paint! I thought these sunflowers were so cheerful and colorful that they did not need to be tightly rendered. Hope you enjoy. This day has flown by as I was attempting to take photos of my recent art and that in itself takes me a long time to get right, then I got bogged down in updating my art files. I think one of the best guidance a newbie can get, is a system for keeping track of paintings. I have created an excel file only to find I have to expand it to keep track of my blog, my etsy etc. Oh well, guess I have to be thankful for all the new synapses that my brain is making and hopefully it is creating new brain cells warding off future senility.

Art Salon

Just returned from the local art museum. They have an "art salon" for local artists. We bring some type of snack and a painting to critique. I learned a great deal by observing and hearing others critique of the various paintings, collages, photos, ceramics. They provided me with great critiques of my "Wooden Model" and ideas for my next paintings. Definitely will attend the next one. It is just what I have been searching for to help me improve.

Putting in my 10,000 hours

Hi, Haven't posted lately as I have been doing a lot of painting. Finally convinced myself that reading about art and colors just doesn't cut the mustard...unless it is followed by actually painting. So I am focusing on brush miles in order to achieve the next level in my paintings. Here are two small paintings I did this week. Am still not quite happy with how in the "Wooden Model" the sketch book does not quite sit down so if any of you have suggestions they are most welcomed.

St Augustine

Back from St Augustine and actually captured some great shots of the sunrise on the beach! Now I need to translate into a painting! I actually did one this afternoon and will “turn it to the Wall” as they say to see if I still like it tomorrow. St Augustine was wonderful. We actually climbed all 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse. I did experience a rubbery feeling in legs the next day which I attribute it to the lack of stairs and hills in Florida (yeh mom!) There is so much great art in St Augustine…. saw some pieces by Matthew Cutter that I especially liked. He can capture light beautifully. The food is wonderbar and I will have to put more miles on the treadmill.

Off to St. Augustine!

We are off to St. Augustine in our Roadtrex. We will be staying in a beach side motor home resort so should be able to get great shots of beach side sunrises. That is, if I wake early enough! I have been in a slump with my painting lately, nothing excites me. I am hoping to just enjoy myself and nature and let the creative juices flow on their own. This painting was done a while back and has been sold. But hopefully this trip will inspire me. Have a great day!

It never ends!!!

I am rapidly becoming overloaded with computer information. I joined the Central Florida Artists in order to showcase my art in another venue and have spend about 5 solid days learning about various photo editors. I have explored Windows Photo editor, Picaso, Olympus, Canon, and Photo Elements all of which reside on my computer. Picaso I liked very much but was having a time resizing my photos... so I finally decided to go with Olympus. Needless to say my family will chuckle as I removed Picaso from my computer and deleted some pictures. They know I don't like clutter....BIG MISTAKE!!! I discovered it wiped out all my photo links to my blog so I had to reorganize and repost every picture to my former blogs. I was able to recover all but San Francisco Lady. I now have a separate folder for my blogs. I just hope my uploads to Etsy aren't similarly linked. I have also been learning to take a more professional photograph of my paintings, courtesy of my husband and the manual... So as I mentioned I am into overload. Am posting a painting I did a while back. Hope you enjoy it. My sister loved it and it is now hanging in her house. Now to focus on painting again.