Bear Creek Fall

12" x 16" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful fall day! The early morning light on the trees and bushes was spectacular. The fall colors this year are amazing. Yesterday was one of those days that my family says, "Now, this is Colorado!" There's a sign near Buena Vista, Co. overlooking a great view of the Collegiate Peaks that says that. So, since we first read that sign to our kids many years ago, whenever we see an incredible view, we say that. One of those family moments.

Anyway, I painted this yesterday of Bear Creek Park. Our house sits next to, and overlooks, this aprroximately 600 acre county park. I've painted it in every season and never tire of its fields, trails, hills, views. This is just out our back door, on a bike trail.

(I still have a couple more studies from my Palo Duro Canyon series, but wanted to post this piece.)

Palo Duro Canyon Study II

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is the 2nd of 5 studies I did from photos after I returned from our plein air trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. As I stated yesterday, I used a limited palette while traveling. Those colors were: alizaron, cad red light, yellow ochre, cad yellow light, sap green, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue and white.

During the Weekend with the Masters Workshop, I attended a talk and slide show by Scott Burdick (whose travel paintings are incredible). He stated that when he flies he uses water based oils. We drove to Texas, so this wasn't an issue, but I'm wondering if anyone else uses water based oils. I've never tried them.

Palo Duro Canyon Study I

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

The next group of Palo Duro Canyon pieces are little studies that I did from photos after I got home. While on the trip I used a very limited palette, a warm and cool red, yellow, blue, sap green, and white. My palette at home has more colors and for these studies I added terra rosa, cad orange, and dioxazine violet. I got all the colors I needed on the trip by mixing the primaries. But I like the feel from more color choice.

Canyon Color Study III

5" x 7" oil on panel
nfs

This color study is of the "Spanish Skirts" which appear in the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon. This dark red oxidation is a combination of iron and oxygen.

Canyon Color Study II

5" x 7" oil on gessoed masonite
nfs

This is another color study from Palo Duro Canyon. My understanding of color studies is to block in flat colors of the main shapes. It was difficult to keep myself from painting the tree areas textured. I really simplified the peaks, mesas, and cliffs. But the trees aren't flat areas. I'll work on that next time.

Blogger friend Celeste Bergin, (look at her blog if you're not familiar w/ her great paintings) commented that the last color study was "diebenkorn-esque". That's about the 4th time in the last month or so tht I've heard someone mention Richard Diebenkorn. At the Weekend w/ the Masters workshop, both Kevin Mcpherson and Skip Whitcomb talked about him. I guess I need to know more about him, so I've put his book on hold at the library. I'm more of a book than internet researcher. But, what I do know about him is that he painted a lot in the abstract expressionist movement of the 50s, he created a mood of quiet and isolation, and he worked in broad areas of color in open rectangular planes. I found that little bit from an old college book, "The History of Modern Art" by HH Arnason.

Canyon Color Study

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

I did several color studies of Palo Duro Canyon. This one was from near the top looking into and over a broad vista of the canyon. While the front rock outcropping looks a little like it's going up, the depth and flattening would have appeared w/ the details, I like the effect of the color flatness and simplicity. More to come.

Palo Duro Canyon IV

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

This piece was painted early Wednesday morning at the bottom of the Canyon. It was 42 degrees, I was wearing all the layers I had, my nose was running, there was absolutely no sun, so all the value and light was FLAT! When I look at this piece I see great colors, but w/ no value. There wasn't any! Because of the weather one group decided to go to Amarillo and view the sites, one group hiked, our group was hard core and painted. But it makes me think. Should I have pushed the values and created some? Should I have hiked? Or should I have done what I did...painted what I saw. I don't think there's a right or wrong. When you're painting plein air, you just get what you get and enjoy it.

You can see I really loved this outing. I have 5 more pieces to post! Maybe I'll post some others as well for variety. (Or not.)

It is said that Georgia O'Keeffes's early paintings were influenced by her visits to the Canyon. "It is a burning, seething cauldron, filled with dramatic light and color." GOK

Palo Duro Canyon III

8" x 10" oil on panel
$100.00 + $10. s./h
contact me if interested
SOLD

This is the 3rd piece I painted on Tuesday afternoon at Palo Duro Canyon. It was late in the day and we switched to another picnic spot. As it was all day, the sun was in and out, causing color and value changes.

Before heading out to paint Tuesday morning we went to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum which is on the campus of WTA&M. It is one of the most beautiful, well set-up museums I've seen and is Texas' largest history museum. In the geology section of the musuem we were given a talk by Petroleum Geologist Chris Bright on the Colors of Palo Duro Canyon. Some of what he told us:
--The dark red at the bottom of the Canyon is the top layer of the Permian age. The earth has an abundance of iron, which in combination w/ oxygen resulted in the dark red oxidation found in the Permian Formations.
--Murky, blue shale was deposited in the Triassic swamp mud. Rivers flowed through this area and cut into the bright red Permian, which resulted in the purple shale.
--He explained that artists find the Canyon so pleasing because the layers compliment each other. Next to the purple layers, is the complementing yellow shale, which is oxygen rich swamp deposits.
--The off-white, or grey sandstone at the top of the Canyon is the white sandstone of the caprock.

We were so impressed that Chris had geared his whole talk to artists and teaching us about the colors and layers of the Canyon. I had never really thought about rocks and color in quite this way. I live in the west, I live in the Rocky Moutains, I live near the Garden of the Gods, our son is a Geology major, I know that colors in paint come from nature...rocks and mountains are not new to me. But, I had never before sat in front of a huge relief sculpture of a canyon showing all the layers and colors and had it explained to me in such a way. It made my paintings so much more meaningful to understand the origin of the color.

Palo Duro Canyon II

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

For this painting, I simply turned my easel around and looked up the canyon. Everywhere you looked was another gorgeous spot to paint. I could stay there for days, and hope to go back. The white rock at the very top of the canyon is the sandstone of the Ogallala, which is the major water aquifer for the area.


This is the Hudspeth House, the B & B where we stayed while in Canyon, Texas. It was built in 1908 by Mr. Turk. The Texas Panhandle didn't (and still doesn't) have much in the way of lumber, so it is believed that he bought a boarding house kit from the Sears and Roebuck catalog for about $2,500.00 which came w/ a 75 page manual. In 1910 Mary Hudspeth was invited to join the faculty at the newly founded West Texas State Normal College, now West Texas A&M U. She boarded w/ the Turk family, and bought the house from them in 1912 when they lost everything in a drought.

In the days before dorms, Miss Hudspeth housed and fed students and faculty. The most famous of those eating meals there was Georgia O'Keefe, who was head of the Art Department from 1916-1918.


Georgia O'Keefe rented a room in this newly built home owned by a physics professor at the college. This 5 bedroom, 1 bath house is one block from the Hudspeth House, 2 blocks from the campus and is presently for sale. (It needs work.)

Palo Duro Canyon

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

I just got back from a 3 day trip to paint at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon, Texas with 10 other artists/friends. Canyon, Texas is about 10 minutes south of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle. Palo Duro Canyon is the 2nd largest canyon in the US. Palo Duro means "hard wood" in Spanish, after the mesquite and juniper.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park opened in 1934 and contains 29,182 acres of the scenic, northern most portion of the Palo Duro Canyon. The Civilian Conservation Corp of the 1930's constructed most of the buildings and roads still in use by park staff and visitors.

The Canyon is 120 miles long, about 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level. Palo Duro Canyon was formed by water erosion from the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. The water deepens the canyon by moving sediment downstream. Wind and water erosion gradually widen the canyon.


Our first two paintings were done at the southern end of the park. It was partly cloudy with the sun going in and out, causing the incredible colors of the rock to change before my eyes. I painted just the center of the far ridge.

Light and Shadow

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

It was very windy when I went out to paint this morning. We often have high winds in Colorado, and it can be even windier in Hartsel, up in the mountains. So, my choices were to stand in the wind or go down into the woods. As you can see, I chose the woods. I thought I'd do another shadow and light study (like I mentioned in the last post) painting this piece w/ more light than shadow. But, I was drawn to these two trees, and so ended up w/ more shadow than light. That's ok, one day I'll do a study with more light than shadow.

Shadow and Light

6" x 8" oil on panel
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During the Weekend with the Masters workshop, one of Kevin Macpherson's class exercises was to create a small piece which had 3/4 shadow and 1/4 light. During one of Skip Whitcomb's talks and demos he said that you should not have equal detail in the light and shadow. He also said that painting in the field is a place for fun and experimentation. So, this past weekend painting in the mountains, I tried to put all of this together in one exercise. I worked for 3/4 shadow w/ more detail, and 1/4 light w/ less detail. I think I've got about 1/3 2/3s, but a fun experiment.

A great benefit of blogging and the web world is meeting new people. I have met so many people through my blog. Today I got to meet a blogger friend in person! I spent a good part of the day w/ Cathyann Burgess from Richmond, Va. She and her husband are spending a month in Denver, Colorado visiting their son and his family. She drove down to the Springs, we met at the Garden of the Gods, had a great tour (I'm a pretty good guide!), went to lunch and visited galleries. What a world we live in! Visit her blog if you're not familiar w/ her work!

Spinney Mist

8" x 10" oil on panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

We spent the last several days up in the mountains. The weather was beautiful this weekend; last weeks cold and snow disappeared. Once again we were at Spinney Reservoir. While my husband was out fishing, I was painting. Because of the mist over the peaks, this was a fun piece to paint. Like often happens when plein-aire painting, the late afternoon light changed so quickly.


This photo was taken when I was finished painting. At this point the light had changed dramatically. The reservoir was much lighter, the mist had increased and the mountains in the background had completely disappeared. The challenge is always sticking with the light as it was at the start, or changing the values in the piece. I think I do both, depending on my mood at the time and how the color and value look to me.

Zinnia Bouquet 2

16" x 20" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Due to this weeks cold and snow, we have several zinnia bouquets in our house right now. So, I decided to do one more zinnia painting. My study for this was a bit different. I spent quite a lot of time with the still life set-up, making sure the flowers were arranged in a good composition, choosing and arranging the fabric on the table, getting a great shadow which included some of the flower shapes for interest. But, the painting seemed to have a mind of it's own. The flowers wanted to be life-sized, which left out the bottom of the vase and most of the shadow and lower fabric edge. I scraped it off and re-started twice, but each time the flowers came out life sized. So, I guess it was meant to be.

Black-eyed Susan

SOLD
6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h

We still have so many flowers in our yard, but fall is upon us, and at this altitude that means freezing nights. So, since last night was 34 degrees, and we have snow on Pikes Peak, I figured I should get in a last few flower paintings before all the flowers freeze.

Spinney Wind

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

My husband and I have been up in the mountains for the last few days. I painted this yesterday on the banks of Spinney reservoir while he was out fishing. As often happens in the mountains, (Spinney is at about 8,000 feet)the weather was strange and quickly changing. The clouds were blowing in over the mountains, making them very gray. The clouds hadn't gotten to Spinney yet, so I was standing in the sun. But, the wind was blowing, making the water greener than normal and covered w/ small whitecaps. All part of why I like plein-aire painting. It makes me think quickly.

Backyard Zinnias

12" x 16" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

The zinnias in our backyard will only last a little longer and I wanted to try to get in a few more paintings of them. We planted zinnias in two gardens, (one, next to the vegetables, and the other tucked between the deck and the fence partly under a tree.) You may be able to tell that these are the ones tucked away, so they are really reaching and bending for the sun. This painting took much longer than the last post as I went out two consecutive days in order to get the same light. The still life was much easier light-wise, and I could just paint for several hours and not worry about the changing sun. This is so often the challenge when painting plein-aire, whether in my backyard or out in the field somewhere. It is also part of why I like plein-aire, the fun, the challenge, the fresh-aire.

Weekend with the Masters 3

16" x 20" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Our yard has been filled with zinnias the last few weeks. I wanted to try a bouquet of flowers instead of a daily painting focusing on one flower.



During yesterday's Weekend with the Artist workshop sponsored by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and American Artist Magazine, I attended a demo by well known Colorado artist Skip Whitcomb. Part way through the demo it started raining. Luckily we were on the Lake Terrace at the Broadmoor, so we pulled lots of big patio umbrellas over to our spot, and Skip continued to paint, and we were all out of the rain. It was great to see a demo of an overcast day. Since Colorado is known for it's sunny weather, 300 sunny days/year, I tend to avoid going out to paint when the weather's bad. As we say here, "Just wait an hour, and the weather will change." This might change my way of thinking.

Some of Skip's main points were:
-"abstract" means we're looking for shapes, values, colors that we can arrange in our world, our canvas
-simpliciy is power--the more you put in, the weaker the statement becomes
-he keeps a sketchbook and always does thumbnails first(before a painting)
-use the golden mean for you center of interest
-he uses veridean only to mix grays, not for greens

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Laurel Daniel saying she was coming to Colorado Springs to attend the Weekend with the Masters workshop. We saw each other off and on over the 4 days and last night she came over for dinner. We spent several great hours sharing and visiting. We found we have many things in common, including: we met our husbands in the 7th grade, we both studied for one year in Sweden. Who would have known! I had a fun evening w/ a new friend all made possible because of blogging and the internet.

Weekend With The Masters 2

This morning I attended a demo by David Leffel as part of the Weedend With The Masters, sponsored by American Artist Magazine, at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. David has so much knowledge and so many years experience of painting and sharing that it's amazing. I have read the book "Oil Painting Secrets From A Master" by Linda Cateura but listening to him speak and watching him do even a short demo was wonderful. As the workshop title says, he truly is a master.

Some of his points were:
-everyone paints the way they do because of the way they think. if you want to get better, change the way you think.
-"essentially, I paint light and shadow"
-a painting always has movement, irregardless of the subject matter
-it is better to be definately wrong, than tentatively right
-Edges: an open edge continues, a hard edge stops. Alternate your edges: hard, soft, hard, soft.
Of course, there was so much more.

Weekend with the Masters

12" x 16" oil
NFS
I spent the Labor Day weekend, and a few additional days, in San Francisco helping our daughter move into an apartment. She graduated from college in June and has her first job in SF. What a great city. She took this painting with her!
While in SF I had lunch w/ fellow blogger Nancy Hartley.



I am spending parts of this weekend attending some of the events at the Weekend With the Masters at the Colorado Springs Fines Arts Center. This is sponsored by American Artist Magazine and has so many great artists giving demos, lectures, and workshops. Yesterday I attended Quang Ho's lecture: Nuts & Bolts: Everything I Wish I Knew Before I Started Painting. Originally from Vietnam refugee who moved to the US in '75, Quang lives in Denver. Some oif this main points were:
-no shape, color, size in a painting should ever be the same
-strive for maximum randomness
-soften your edges
-flow--everything should be visually connected to everything else
-shape is the secret to painting (although he has other secrets)
-when you make a decision it's never wrong. it's wrong if you don't make a decision.

I took several pages of notes. Those are just a few hightlights. He also has a video w/ lots more information that I would love to see for review.

Jersey Girls

8" x 10" oil on canvas on board
$145.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Once again, this painting is from my trip to Ocean City, at the Jersey shore. I'm not really sure what makes a girl a "Jersey girl", or if these women even qualify as "girls" anymore. Or, if they grew up in New Jersey and used to be Jersey girls. But, to me, Jersey girls hang out together and talk about important things. And, these two definately fit that bill! So, here's to all the Jersey girls!

Ocean City

8" x 10" oil on canvas on board
SOLD

When I was back east in July, visiting my sister in New Jersey and taking a color study workshop in Philadelphia, I was lucky enough to get to spend 1 day at the Jersey shore. I was mesmerized by all the colors at the beach: water, sand, umbrellas, toys, chairs, bathing suits, towels, skin-tones. It was non-stop visual stimulus. I felt like I was looking at, and walking through, a real live color study class (of course, I'd just spent a week in a color study class.) Anyway, I took lots of photos and now have painted several pieces.

These ladies seemed so content just sitting by the water, enjoying the day. Everyone was enjoying that day. It was so entertaining to me how people sat right by the water. I guess you can see your kids better, or keep cooler. Being from Colorado, we don't have many beaches. A few here and there by a lake or reservoir. One time when our son was 3, he came home from spending the afternoon at our small local man-made lake and beach and excitedly told us that he'd had a great day at the ocean!

Hartsel Herd

11" x 14" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I did the previous buffalo as a study for this larger piece. I loved the way all the calves were following and staying so close to their mothers. Now I'm wondering about even a larger painting with dozens of animals. After all, the animals in the far background are just color notes. Well, all of them are really. We'll see.

Yesterday afternoon I saw a great show on tv, on PBS or NBS, called Passport and Palette. It's produced by Wanda Macpherson, Kevin's wife. It showed Kevin painting in the Loire Valley, he was giving a demo and talk. Apparently, each week different artists are shown painting around the world. It was really interesting.

Speaking of Kevin Macpherson, he is going to be part of the Weekend with the Masters that is here in Colorado Springs next week. I've heard from a couple of people in the blogging community who will be here, just wondering if anyone else is coming. If so, let me know. Should be a great weekend.

Hartsel Herd Study

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is my color study for a larger piece that I'm working on. There are several buffalo herds around Hartsel, Colorado and if we're lucky, when we're up there the buffalo might be standing right by the road. Sometimes I can see a herd off in the distance silhouetted against the mountains. This day, we were lucky and a herd was right by the road, as if wainting for us! Special buffalo fences have to be built around these ranches/pastures, as buffalo can plow right through a normal barbed wire cow fence.
I think I'll enter this in Michelle Burnett's Following the Master's blog which focuses on western art this month.

Crystal Reservoir

SOLD
8" x 10" oil on panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Last week my plein-aire group painted at Crystal Reservoir, which is about 1/4 of the way up the Pikes Peak Highway. This reservoir was closed to the public for years, but is now open for bank fishing, hiking, and viewing. It's one of the reservoirs which supplies the water to Colorado Springs. This view is looking at Pikes Peak from the back.

One of fun challenges about plein-aire painting is the quickness which you have to paint, due to the changing light. When I left, the clouds were moving in causing the shadows, lights and darks to change. I had most of this done, and used a reference photo to just add the final touches.

Restful Moment

6" x 6" oil on panel
nfs

I painted this in the mountains on the same day as the last mountain scene (post before last.) We had gone for a long hike, and were resting on our lawn chairs drinking iced tea enjoying the view and the sun, (I think you have to be mountain campers to visualize this!) Hiking at 8,000 can be a challenge, and seems to become more challeging the older we get! These restful moments are becoming longer and longer! But, that's okay!

I kept watching the light on the tree and the grasses around it and realized there was another painting before me! So, here it is!

PEO Water Lilies

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Once again my plein-aire group painted at the PEO pond. This time it was a beautiful, sunny day without the clouds and changing light. While watching the water lilies I realized that they're like flowers which grow from the ground, in that they open, appear to stand straight up, open wider, appear to be spreading their petals out. It seems so obvious that, of course, they would do that, but I guess it took several days and lots of looking before I realized that. I used Permanent Rose in this painting, also. It might become part of my plein-aire palette!

For those who were wondering, this is copied from google: "P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization), one of the pioneer societies for women, was founded on January 21, 1869, by seven students at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Originally a small campus friendship society, P.E.O. soon blossomed to include women off campus. Today, P.E.O. has grown from that tiny membership of seven to almost a quarter of a million members in chapters in the United States and Canada. The P.E.O. Sisterhood is passionate about its mission: promoting educational opportunities for women. Our sisterhood proudly makes a difference in women's lives with five international philanthropies: P.E.O. Educational Loan Fund, Cottey College , P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund, P.E.O. Program for Continuing Education, and P.E.O. Scholar Awards. P.E.O. is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa."

Morning Shadows

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

We've spent the last several days in the mountains, fishing, hiking, reading, relaxing and painting. We spend a lot of time near Hartsel, in South Park, a little more than an hour west of here.

School started here last week, and of course, I can't help but remember all the years that was me. Now, I just continue to enjoy, and appreciate, all the time I have for myself, to do whatever my husband and I want to do, when we want to do it!

After the Rain

6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I had planned on painting another white hollyhock, but last night's torrential rain made them look so droopy and wilted. So, back to the pinks. The last pink one leaned a little toward magenta. I wanted this one to really be pink, so I used some Permanent Rose, which is not in my usual plein-aire palette, but which we used at Studio Incamminati. I think it was a good addition to my flower palette.

Early Morning Hollyhocks

SOLD
6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This morning I was up and out in the backyard early. I wasn't going to be deterred by too much sun. The sun was filtering in and out of the leaves which created cool light and shadow, as well as warm spots. A fun and challenging time of day. Although, plein-aire light is always fun, challenging, and constantly changing. I find this really makes me look, and quickly put down my color notes.

Hollyhocks

6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

The hollyhocks in our yard are about 8 feet tall this year. They're incredible! I'm sure it has to do with all the rain we had this past spring. I didn't get out to paint quite as early this morning as I would have liked, so, to stand in the shade (I could have used my umbrella!) I was tucked in by our back gate. I had to keep opening the gate and go into the path to stand back. I just should have set-up out in the park easement!

Hillside Pottery

8" x 10" oil on canvas on foamboard
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Yesterday my plein-aire group painted at Hillside Gardens. We paint there about once each month and have our show there annually. There are always hundreds of pots. I've painted them many times over the years, but am always fascinated by their colors, shadows, reflections, and the way they're displayed which allows for constant variety in composition. As always w/ plein-aire painting, the light changes so quickly which forces me to lay in my big shapes and paint only what's important.



I recently received the Bella Sinclair Award from Laurel Daniel. Laurel was the first person that I didn't know personally who commented on my blog. I always appreciated that. This award is for "Friendship, Sisterhood, Sharing & Caring." I want to share this award with the following artists: Debbi Smith-Rourke who regularly comments on my blog, Kimberly Conrad who started Daily Painters of Colorado, and Natalie Italiano teacher at Studio Incamminati and soon to be blogger.

Manitou Springs

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

The other day my plein-aire group painted in Manitou Springs. Manitou is the next town to the west, more or less touching Colorado Springs. It is a historic town, with many buildings built in the last century. It was a fun painting challenge, as the morning light was quickly changing.

Unbelizeable!

6" x8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10./ s/h
contact me if interested

This is yet another painting done last week in Belize. I used to spend any spare time on vacations reading. In Belize I read and painted! There were never endless painting opportunities and gorgeous locations all around! What a beautiful country!



This is one of many spectacular beaches, (not the one I painted above). I loved painting the palm trees. They were constantly moving...continuous breezes blew in from the water. And, we don't have palm trees in Colorado!

Maybe someone can help me. I tried to load a Paypal buy now button. But, when you pushed "buy now" an error report came up. So, I called Paypal and they said it was a blogger error. But, now when I'm in "create post" I don't see my pictures, I only see gibberish. It still works to post, and I know where to type, but...I've done something and don't know what. Has anyone else had this situation!?

You Better Belize It!

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This is another painting done on the beach of our hotel, Mata Rocks. I'm standing in the same spot of shade, but looking up the beach toward the town. San Pedro is an easy walk down the beach.



One day we went on a fishing and snorkeling excursion. We had to catch our lunch which was prepared on this beach.



Here's our "catch of the day": fresh snapper, fresh lobster, potatoes, all wrapped in foil and baked over a palm frond fire. I especially like the table cloth!

Ambergris Caye Flower

6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Our third day in Ambergris Caye we had scheduled for a day of reef fishing. But, the morning was so windy and the water so choppy, that boats weren't going out. So, not to be deterred by Mother Nature, while the rest of my family took a morning nap, I painted one of the flowers from the bouquet in our room. Mata Rocks Resort had beautiful bouquets in each room. I have no idea what this flower is called, it has really long stems, but it was so beautiful against the tropical yellow walls. Later in the day, we golf carted around the island, the only cars on Ambergris Caye are the taxis, which are mini-vans.

Ambergris Caye 2

6" x 8" oil on panel
nfs

This scene is painted from the same shady spot as the last post, but facing the opposite way. The water on Ambergris Caye is really green. I know I'm painting the light on the water, so that must mean the warm sun mixing with the blue reflection creates the green. Or, maybe because there was so much green sea grass in the water. Whatever the cause, it was really fun trying to mix the greens w/ the limited palette I took w/ me. I don't think this photo does the painting justice, because the water near the horizon is a little greener.


This photo, although not shot on the same day as the above painting, sort of shows how green the water looked. The dark areas are sea grass. Every day, starting at 5:30 am, boats would pull up at the dock to take guests diving, fishing, snorkeling, sailing. It was sort of a boat-taxi spot. Boats came all day; and after the trips everyone would share their days events.

I just had to throw this in. This is the 6 seater plane on which we flew from Belize City out to the island of Ambergris Caye.

And, this is the local airport. it was pretty easy to find our luggage!!