Old Truck

For years I have looked at this old truck and thought it would make a great painting subject.

It's not very serious and fun to paint. Lots of tourists get their picture taken next to it. 

What drew me to this subject is the sense you get of old Key West. This broken down truck with this beautiful bougainvillea growing over the roof.

6x6 Old Truck Oil on canvas panel

The Tree at the Porter House

Oil on Masonite 16x20

I loved painting the banyan tree so much I decided to paint a larger version of the painting.

The tree is on the corner of Duval and Caroline, here in Key West. The house is called the Porter house.
 I don't want my paintings to be about architecture as much as nature, but getting into some of the detail is fun.
I find that when you get into details however, you can go over board, and tighten the painting, loosing the very thing that drew you to paint the scene in the first place.
Certainly it's a fine line between suggesting details and rendering up your painting. You want to make your painting as William Merit Chase called "alive with paint". 

Morning Silhouette

I worked on an old painting this morning on Stock Island, when I was finished I had time to start another,
The boats where silhouetted against the sky and it seemed to me that this scene painted itself. My favorite thing to paint is water and the fishing boats have great reflections.
I massed in the painting with all the big shadow shapes and when I completed the main shadow notes I move on to the water and then the light notes.

Hibiscus Bush

The flowering bush and shutter I thought would make a nice subject.  I usually don't paint stoop paintings, after making a small thumbnail sketch I felt this scene would be fun to do.
Sometimes all that draws us into making a painting is the shear enjoyment we get from painting.
I painted this with a brush and wanted to keep it loose and full of paint.

Banyan Tree

Banyan Tree oil of canvas 8x10

The Banyan Tree is the center of interest or my main focal point. The detail of the building was painted on  after everything else, and was applied unevenly to suggest architecture.

The paint was but on with a brush and painted thin in the darks with the build up in the lights to create the light effect.
I added the two chickens in the right first, because they are there and second to draw the eye to the Banyan  tree.

Starburst

Starburst 8x10 oil on Masonite

The Starburst shrub made an excellent subject on an overcast day. Clerodendrum quadriloculare, is the starburst's technical name. The Shrub blooms in the winter months forming pink and white balls 6 to 10 inches.
Painting scenes with flowers on a cloudy day can be somewhat more colorful than a sunny day because of the saturation of blooms due to their local color.

I started this scene with a brush and when it got too noodled up I went in with my painting knife and pushed it together.

Quiet Island Lane

Oil on Canvas Panel 8x10

Sometimes when I'm composing a composition I look at my scene and visualize whether it should be portrait orientation or landscape orientation.

 A thumbnail sketch helps tremendously to see what you want to express in the painting.

I wanted to express an intimate shady lane scene, and that's what this lane is.

There are so many choices to paint on this lane that I could have chose many different ideas.

I zeroed in on one part of the lane and found a place to paint out of everyones way. 

I used a brush which helped keep it loose and fresh, helping to express what I feel about this place.