Camper in the Woods

I have always found painting woodland scenes to be quite confusing. I decided to organize my painting in three sections, background, middle and foreground. The last thing I painted were the trees. 

I found that painting trees in groups is more convincing than random selection of one tree then the next.

At the Dock

Down the street is a wonderful little marina that hosts various marine subjects. I really love painting marine subjects. In some ways I am experiencing many of the free feeling sailors have.
I find that the marine subject gives you a chance to paint color and reflections.
This Painting was painted off San Carlos. I used a brush and the knife combo.

The Reluctant Model

Anyone who knows me knows I'm crazy about my little pooch Sophie. Today is Sophie's 10th Birthday so I decided to make everyone crazy and blog about the small sketch I painted  a couple years ago when I was in Palm Springs.

I don't plan on making a career in "dog portraits". but what's the point of learning how to paint if you aren't having a blast painting the things you enjoy?
Like all animal's dogs don't pose all that well, but she held still long enough to get the gist.
I
I have read a couple animal anatomy books they help construct the basic form, so you can feel your way arournd.
They dog or cat is going to spilt after a couple strokes anyway so I just put down the
basic pose and then construct a little.
This type of painting is not a photo, and shouldn't look like one either.

Tropical Lane

 Returning to Elgin lane once again gave me an unexpected pleasurable experience. Without the pressures of having to produce that winning painting, I was able to relax and concentrate on the flow and rhythms that color expresses in the landscape.
Paintings can be sort of a diary, or a record of your painting experience.

I know I will miss Key West and this painting was about the warm sunny mornings I stood painting in that lane moving  the color around.

This painting was painted with a pallet knife
beginning to end. I feel very comfortable using the knife, most of my painting training is with the knife.

Johnson Lane

Johnson lane was painted completely with a pallet knife. The knife puts the color down rich and keeps the colors from being muddy by constantly wiping the knife.

The main reason Charles Hawthorne had students paint with putty knives was to keep them from in consequential details. 

In this particular painting, details are suggested as not to detract from the colorful warm, light key associated with the late afternoon.
 I worked on this painting several times at the same time of day. I softened some of the background using color notes rather than blending techniques. 

Gingerbread Gallery

Here I'm posing in front of my paintings at the Gingerbread Gallery on Duval in Key West.

I am excited to be showing here because I have been for years coming to Key West to paint in the winter. I have shown in Key West many years ago but that gallery no longer exists. The Gingerbread Gallery has many local artist's and has been showing art in Key West for over thirty years. I now have a place to show my paintings in a place that I  love and  feel comfortable painting in.

Higgs Beach Park

 Higgs Beach Park is an excellent park in Key West located on the Atlantic Ocean. The Park has a Civil War era fort, that is the "Key West Garden Club", open to the public.
Among the many activities the park hosts is the dog park where I bring my little yorkie Sophie, to socialize. A great park to discover compositions.

These are two small paintings I did of the field house, I was excited about the simplicity of the scene so I painted two different scenes depicting the background, middle ground and fore ground. This was the way I arranged the painting in my head while I painted.