Ocean Hammock

 Today was the last day of our workshop with Michael Chesley Johnson. We had a glorious day today, and Ocean Hammock Park in St. Augustine Beach is a small gem - primarily a 1700-foot boardwalk walkway at present, but leading through varied habitats of the hammock and the dunes out to the beach. Again we did our color sketches in the morning to create a painting in the studio in the afternoon.

I took lots of photos along the boardwalk. But because I don't like being in direct sunlight I ended up sitting in the parking lot. I have Michael to thank for the idea of the finished painting above. I had done two color sketches during the morning.

One was on the roadway, and one was of an interesting tree. He asked me which I planned to do for the full painting, and I said I wasn't sure as both had elements I liked. So Michael suggested I try to combine the two for a unified whole.

So I looked at them both. I had a unifying central element in the post - that sits on the left of the tree pic, and is the same as the rightmost post in the pathway pic. So I used that to center the two sides of my image, and had to crop off bits on either side to fit on my 9x12 Art Spectrum sheet.

But I did a pencil sketch first, and thought it looked good. So that was what I did. My reference photos were all on my cell phone, and the cell battery died at the end of the morning! So I had only my two color sketches, my memory, and my imagination as references for the finished work. :-)

Vilano Beach

Today was day two of the workshop with Michael Chesley Johnson. We gathered at the fishing pier at Vilano Beach  We were supposed to do small color studies of 2-3 locations in and around the pier. And from those to develop eventually a larger picture. Above is the one I began as my larger picture, before we have had our critique session with Michael.  9x12 Art Spectrum.

And these are the two small color studies I did earlier in the day near the pier. Though I got rained out as I was working on the second one! The two small ones are just on sketchpad paper, each one about 4x6.

Mission Nombre de Dios

Today was day one of the wonderful workshop with Michael Chesley Johnson! Despite a rainy start the sun finally came out, and we got to choose our spots to work at the old Mission Nombre de Dios in St. Augustine.

I chose the bridge, a bit of a challenge, but figured getting advice in a workshop on it would be a great time to attempt it, and I rather like this painting - on 9x12 Art Spectrum

Plein air mystery painting (IDed as Princess Place)

Tomorrow I'll be going to St. Augustine to take a 3-day workshop with Michael Chesley Johnson. I'm really excited about it, and I spent this afternoon going through my stuff to get ready with the things I need to take.

When I cleaned out my plein air cart I found this painting inside a glassine bag. Well I found several paintings actually. But I knew what they all were except this one! This one is a mystery. I have no idea when or where I did it, although it's obviously here in Florida. And I know I did it plein air because it's on an 8x10 Ampersand board, and I only ever use them when I do plein air.

So I figured I'd post it anyway. Maybe if I stare at it long enough I'll remember something about it.

Update Update! I've figured out what this is. It was done at our First Coast Pastel Society plein air get-together at Princess Place.  And I actually see this painting sitting on my easel in one of the photos I posted there. So it's no longer a mystery. And Princess Place is one of my favorite places!

Flyin W pond

One of the members of the Art Guild of Orange Park, Donna Grasso, invited members to join her for a day of plein air painting at the Flyin W Farm in Green Cove Springs. The farm is beautiful and rural , with open fields, horses, sheep, and a lovely little pond.

We had great weather this morning - and I took lots of photos of the horses and sheep, and may use them for reference photos. But for plein air I prefer non-moving targets, LOL. So I set up my easel by the small pond near the barns. I did this on Art Spectrum paper, 9x12, using a variety of pastels.

Camp Chowenwaw

What a lovely day it was today. We are really headed into my favorite part of the year, weatherwise, now. We had our first plein air event of the season for the First Coast Pastel Society, and we had it had Camp Chowenwaw Park, which is just ten minutes down the road from my house. Very convenient for me. :-)

I sat down near the edge of Black Creek, facing upriver towards the fishing pier. The woman I sat next to and I both agreed that we still don't really feel comfortable with plein air, and feel like the works we do with the FCPS look like "kindergarten works". But we both agree we love coming for the enjoyment of the great outdoors, and the camaraderie of the other artists. There were ten of us there today. This is the painting I did today. As usual with my plein air I feel sort of "eh" about it. But it was a wonderful day and lots of fun being out of doors with fellow artists.

Done on 9x12 Art Spectrum as is fairly typical, sort of a cream color.