Molasses Junction

 

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an avid birder. I love crossing the river into rural St. Johns County to look for birds. It’s mostly rural farmland but also lots of great places to look for birds. As I go I always pass this little store at the intersection of a couple roads, with this dilapidated feed store in the back. It seems so “old Florida”. Even the name of Molasses Junction gives that feel. The main building may be fun to paint one day, but this time I just wanted the back building. Another 8x10 with my Mungyos and Senneliers. 

Riding the Waves

 

Another 8x10 oil pastel. Back in the summer of 2021 we rented a beach house in Atlantic Beach, NC for 10 days and had a nice summer vacation there. My three grandkids all enjoyed going in the water, and this painting is from a reference photo I took of my grandson Patrick, then 6, riding his boogie board. 

Shibumi

Last summer my daughter-in-law and three grandkids and I rented a beach house in Atlantic Beach, NC for a summer vacation. Just two blocks from the beach, and a 5-minute ride to my sister’s house. 

All over the beach everyone had these wonderful lightweight beach shades. My sister had one too. Quick and easy for even a single person to set up, and only needs the slightest of breezes to work.

It’s a Shibumi by name. Googling taught me that “shibumi” is a Japanese word, roughly translating as “effortless perfection”. A perfect name for these. I ended up buying one for my daughter-in-law for her birthday. 

However this painting is from a reference I took of my sister’s shibumi, the day her husband took us all out on his boat and we spent the day at Shackleford Banks. 

Salt marsh

 Next oil pastel is a painting of salt marshes. Where I live in Florida there are many salt marshes, and where I spent summer vacation in Canada for 40+ years there were lots of salt marshes too. Despite the distance in miles they look very similar.

So the embarrassing thing is that I found this reference photo printed out, and I have no clue where is is! I don’t even recognize it. Florida? Canada? I have no idea. LOL. 

Cattle Egrets

 

Still on my oil pastel passion. This is a place I pass occasionally in Middleburg, Florida. I just get a kick out of the cattle egrets hanging out on the larger animals.

Fort Macon

Still in love with my Mungyo oil pastels. This is a 9x12 on the same paper as my previous painting. This is at Fort Macon State Park in North Carolina, near my sister Amy’s home. 

Leslie’s Lake

 

I might have thought I’d be more artistic during my Covid lockdown but actually I was much less so. Depression? Who knows? Less interest? But my FB artist friend Gary Garrett began posting some fabulous paintings he’d done with Mungyo oil pastels. 

I’d always thought I’d like oil pastels and had several sets: Holbeins, NeoPastels, CrayPas. But my attempts were always awful. It just never occurred to me that my actual oil pastels could be the problem. Now Gary is a far better artist than I am, but I did love his Mungyo review so I bought a set. 

And I fell in love! These Mungyos are such a pleasure to use. This was my first attempt at using them. My friend Leslie has a little cottage on a lake which I’ve visited a few times, and this is the view from her cottage. This on a 9x12 sanded sheet (darned if I can recall brand name) which I bought a few years ago to try with my dry pastels. It was awful for them though, but I love it for the oil pastels.!