Holmes Beach

Holmes Beach Waves

9"x12" oil on board

I should've been in the kitchen this morning preparing for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner... but just couldn't resist painting the tremendous waves produced by last night's storm from from my balcony!

Three Graces... a work in progress

Three Graces...a work in progress

9"x12" oil on board

I met up with a couple other local plein air painters in Sarasota this morning to paint at Jungle Gardens. Someone had just fed the flamingos their breakfast so rather than bathing in the water they were all congregated on the walkway. I chose to paint a shady area of the pond and just kept my fingers crossed that some would wander my way... and as luck would have it, eventually 3 of them waded into the water for about 10 minutes, which was just long enough for me to capture them on my canvas!
A better close-up photo of the finished piece is yet to come...

(On a side not, this was my first painting experience that I had to contend with flamingos nipping at my butt while I worked!)

Did You Get my Best Side?

Did You Get my Best Side?

8"x10" oil on panel

This past week I had the opportunity to paint at the Save Our Seabirds bird sanctuary in Sarasota.  After scoping all the birds out I settled on this great blue heron.  Certain that it would never stand still long enough for me to paint it I decided to do fill my canvas with quick "gesture drawing" painting studies as it paced around in his netted cage.  However, not long after I began painting, it hopped up on this log and proceeded to model for me, posing perfectly still, for a couple hours! Every now and then it'd hop down to take a little stretch break, then go right back up in position. 

(Below are some of the quick studies.)