Quick Wave

Quick Wave
plein air oil  8" x 6"
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$100.00 + $10. s/h

I've painted a lot of beach scenes, but usually palm trees, still water, things that don't move.  This is one of the few times that I've tried painting waves plein air.  Obviously the challenge is the quick movement of the waves.  I blocked in one wave and tried to quickly paint it in even as it rolled back into the sea while I was painting.  I'd wait for the next wave and try to get the colors from there without changing the shape I'd just blocked in.  It was challenging, but actually kind of fun.  I think I'll try another next time we're at the beach.

Soothing Sound

Soothing Sound
Oil  20" x 16"
NFS
Day 4 0f 30

Once again I'm participating in the 30 in 30 painting challenge i.e.:  paint 30 paintings in 30 days.  I'm not able to paint every day for 30 days in January, but I'm going to paint as much as I can.  My theme for this challenge is "Paintings From Mexico."  My husband and I love Mexico, we've been there many times and we'll be there much of this winter (we are so lucky to have the most wonderful house sitter), thus, my theme.  I'll post as often as I can.  When I don't have new paintings from Mexico I'm going to throw in some oldies but goodies on my blog.  But, to stick with the challenge I'll only post the new ones on the challenge blog.  Enjoy!

All paintings sold will be mailed in April.  I apologize for the big delay and inconvenience.

This is another piece done from our trip to Holbox Island, off the coast of the northern Yucatan.  I loved the peacefulness of the water this day.  Oceans aren't always this calm, this colorful, this turquoise.  But, when they are, you can sit for hours and just look at them.

There Is A Magic About The Sea

There Is A Magic About The Sea
Oil  20" x 16"
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$595.00 + $10. s/h
Day 3 of 30

Once again I'm participating in the 30 in 30 painting challenge i.e.:  paint 30 paintings in 30 days.  I'm not able to paint every day for 30 days in January, but I'm going to paint as much as I can.  My theme for this challenge is "Paintings From Mexico."  My husband and I love Mexico, we've been there many times and we'll be there much of this winter (we are so lucky to have the most wonderful house sitter), thus, my theme.  I'll post as often as I can.  When I don't have new paintings from Mexico I'm going to throw in some oldies but goodies on my blog.  But, to stick with the challenge I'll only post the new ones on the challenge blog.  Enjoy!

All paintings sold will be mailed in April.  I apologize for the big delay and inconvenience.
This painting was done from a photo that I took on Holbox Island.  This island is about 7 miles of the northern coast of the Yucatan.  We spent a week on Holbox and had rain, clouds, and sun.  The ocean was different in everyone of those conditions.  I love how the ocean changes.

Maui Wedding

Maui Wedding
Oil  11" x 14"
Commission

This was a commission for a wedding gift.  It was a fun and challenging piece.  The wedding was held at this spot;  the wedding trellis was just to the right of the palm tree looking out over the water.  What a great location.  If I had been a guest I would have had a hard time looking at the ceremony and not at the view!  While it never rained that day, it was breezy, gray and a bit more over cast than in the painting.  My challenge was to make it "the day", but not too gray.  I've been to Hawaii once, and luckily it was to Maui.  So, I used the photo I was emailed by the guest as well as several from our trip to get the right gray, cloudy, blue sky, blue/gray water combination, but, yet not as gray as it really was that day.   I'm happy with the way it came out.  It shows that the wedding day wasn't perfect weather, but it was a perfect wedding!  May the couple have years of happiness in all weather!

Rattlesnake Ridge

Rattlesnake Ridge

plein air oil  8" x 10"

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$100.00 + $10. s/h

This is another plein air painting from our recent trip to California.  It was painted at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.  One of my biggest challenges here was to simplify the cliff.  I was parked in the furthest parking lot by the tide pools.  I had a great view of the whole cliff and in my first sketch I included a lot of the cliff.  I realized that was too big of an area to cover quickly in a plein air pieces.  My next sketch focused in on a small section.  An additional challenge is to paint moving waves.  I tried to get them in pretty quickly and just left them alone.  I like how the water motion turned out.  I wish I'd been there longer...I would have gone back to the same spot again.

Here is my set up and great view.  Below you can see the rattlesnake that crawled nearby.  

A bicyclist got a park ranger who loaded him up in a bucket and drove him away.   He said that two people had recently been bitten by rattlers.  In my mind, he was a little bit too close for comfort.

Sunset Cliffs

Sunset Cliffs
Oil  8" x 10"
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$100.00 + $10. s/h

My husband and I recently got back from a great road trip to California.  We drove from Colorado Springs to Santa Rosa, CA;  then to San Francisco and on down the coastal highway to San Diego.   From there we drove across Arizona off and on the old Route 66, then through New Mexico and back home.   It was a great three weeks.  I did a bit of painting, took lots of reference photos, saw incredible sights and could do it all over again!

These cliffs are in San Diego.  Not only is it a great place to paint, but obviously a beautiful place to watch the sunset.  It was fun to sit and watch all of the people climbing up and down the precarious trails to get to the water.

The first photo shows the cliffs at sunset.  The 2nd photo

 is of the cliffs the next morning when I went out to paint.  

Amazing difference in the light!

Swaying Palm

Swaying Palm
Oil  12" x 12"
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$295.00 + $10. s/h

I'm loving painting these palm trees.  This one is on the beach in Mahahual, Mexico...almost to the Belize border.  I walked by this palm several times a day.  I took dozens of pictures of it.  To me, it's the perfect palm: full fronds, curved trunk, beautiful location.

Ocean Breeze

Ocean Breeze
Oil  12" x 12"
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$295.00 + $10. s/h

Some of the days that we were on the Mexican beaches were really windy and it made it almost impossible to paint.  But, it was still so beautiful!  I love the beach no matter the weather.  These recent palm tree paintings are studio work done when I got home.  What a great way to extend a trip!

Thinking Heaven

Thinking Heaven
Oil  12" x 12"
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$295.00 + $10. s/h

I'm not sure what heaven looks like.  I'm not sure that anyone does.  But, when ever I'm in the tropics and walking on a beach I feel like I've gone to heaven.  It's beautiful, colorful, exotic (at least to someone from Colorado), warm.  I could go on and on.  I thought I'd share a little bit of heaven!  And, a little bit of our trip to Mexico last month.

Warm Light

Warm Light
Oil  8" x 6"
$75.00 + $10. s/h  click here for Paypal

This is another plein air piece from Isla Mujeres, Mexico.  We've been back a few days and now that we're in the snow, we're wondering why we came back!  But, I am so grateful that we are able to  travel and how great is it that I can "work" where ever I am!

I now have several plein air easels and set ups and use them all at different times.  For this trip, and for most overseas trips, I use a small, 8" x 10", Open Box M easel.  I have a small, light weight tripod that telescopes into 5, instead of the usual 3, sections.  I admit that it is not as sturdy as my other tripod, but it's compact.  I take a limited palette of water based oils and use baby wipes for cleaning.  I paint on canvas paper, usually in sizes 8" x 10" and smaller.  The paints dry fairly quickly, so it's easy to pack the paintings for the trip home.  However, I take a few pieces of pre-cut wax paper in case the paintings aren't quite dry.  All of this fits in a small day pack, which I take as carry on.   I include the TSA info sheet and have never had any problems.

Warm Spaces

Warm Spaces
Oil  8" x 6"
$75.00 + $10. s/h  click here for Paypal

My husband and I recently returned from several weeks in Mexico.  We loved the warm weather, beaches, colonial towns, people and food!  We arrived into a snow storm and wished we had stayed longer!!

This is a plein air piece from Isla Mujeres, Spanish for "Island of Women".  This island is about 8 miles off the coast of the Yucatan in the Caribbean Sea.  I was amazed at how small it is:  a little more than 4 miles long by about 2,000 feet wide.  

The Maine Event

This Friday, May 2nd is the opening of a group show:  The Maine Event - Visions of coastal Maine through the eyes of 8 Colorado Springs artists.  Last fall, 8 artists and friends and family members, 16 of us total, headed to Maine to paint, etc.  We spent several days in the Rockland/Rockport area and more time out on Monhegan Island.  The show comprises our plein air and studio pieces.  For those of you who live locally, I hope you can get to the opening.  If not, please stop by the Boulder Street Gallery 206 North Tejon, Colorado Springs sometime during the month of May.  Thanks!

Rhythm Of Waves

Rhythm Of Waves
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

And one more from my water/sea series.  I've loved painting these and know I'll paint more later, or sooner.  And, I'm already looking forward to our next tropical trip!  But, on to something different.

Sea Symphony

Sea Symphony
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

As you can see (sea), I am continuing with my water series from our recent trip to Holbox Island, Yucatan, Mexico.  One day we had a powerful rain.  The streets (of sand) were filled with huge puddles for several days.  Afterwards the water was dark and turbulent, which makes for more paintings!

The Song Of Water

The Song Of Water
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

I continue with my water series from our trip to Holbox Island, Yucatan, Mexico.  One day we had a very heavy rain.  That evening and the whole next day there were huge puddles on all of the sand streets.  This made for a challenging walk back to the hotel in the semi-dark after dinner!  I mentioned in a previous post that there are no cars on the island and that the streets are sand.  I would have thought that the water would just seep right trough the sand, but the drainage seemed to be an issue.  Anyway, the rain also created incredible color and wave changes in the water, of course during the storm, but the next day as well. 

Light and Life

Light and Life
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

As I said yesterday, I loved all of the changing colors and light in the ocean.  I realize that if you lived by water like this, you would have a never ending, constantly changing visual display right in front of you!

This title is complements of fellow blogger Steven Dunn.  He commented on a palm tree that I posted last week that the piece had such "light and life."  That got me to thinking that isn't that really what we paint, the light and life in front of us.  Thank you Steven.  If you don't know him, he has such an interesting blog!

Tropical Sea

Tropical Sea
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

One of the things that's fun, but time consuming, after a trip is the photo editing.  I take a lot of pictures when we travel.  Some are specifically for future studio reference and some are vacation pleasure shots.  As I was editing I was amazed at how many pictures I'd taken of just the water, different times of day, different weather conditions.  I loved the plein air piece I posted a few days ago, Down By The Seaside, and thought that all of those photos could become a series.  So, the next few posts will be the water that I fell in love with and couldn't stop photoing and now painting!!

Tropical Palm

Tropical Palm
plein air oil
8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

This is the last of my Holbox Island, Yucatan, Mexico plein air pieces.  What drew me to this shadow was that it was so curved and the tree was so straight.  This palm drove me nuts all week.  My vision of palm trees is beautiful, exotically curved trunks.  I kept thinking that this one was just too vertical.  But, if that's my biggest worry, and I'm painting on a beach...that's the life!

All week while we were in Holbox Island there was an International Mural Painting contest being held.  It was great fun to see the progress and completion of the art work!

Down By The Seaside

Down by The Seaside
plein air Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

So, as you've seen, I just enjoyed my time on the beach looking at the palm trees, which became a painting.  I looked at the colors of the frond shadows, that became a painting.  I loved the constantly changing colors of the water...so, that, too, became a plein air painting!

Because there were so many fishermen on the beach, the birds were also a constant 

source of entertainment!

That's My Buoy!

That's My Buoy!
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

Day 8 in the 30 in 30 Days Challenge

I loved all of the buoys I saw hanging on walls, resting in piles on the ground and loaded onto trucks  readying for "Trap Day" on our fall trip to Monhegan Island, Maine.  I also loved the reflections of the buoys in the water.  I was told by someone who goes out to Monhegan Island every year to help on Trap Day that you can tell who owns the buoys by their colors.  That was something new to me, but which made such sense once I'd heard it.  So, I wondered about the exact color of this buoy.  It's old and needs to be repainted.  I'm sure it's seen many seasons in the water.  But, I guess that the lobstermen know exactly which ones are theirs and thus the title..."That's My Buoy"!