Box of Twenty Series / 1 of 20 Super Full Moon Night

Box of Twenty Series.  Why Box of Twenty?  At Winter Park Paint Out I did some paintings with Don Sondag,  Jr.  He is an incredible painter, and he is really prolific.  I thought I was prolific until I met Don.  He lives in Orlando.   He paints on larger sizes than I usually paint.  He paints a lot, and he paints really well.  Here’s a link to his page at the Winter Park Paint Out.   So my idea was get a bunch of larger canvases and start painting.  I wanted to concentrate on doing these larger paintings outdoors.  Since it’s difficult to paint outdoors during the day with a real job I decided I would have to do some night paintings.   So I got some 16 x 20s in bulk volume price which was a box of twenty.  Yeah that sounds good.  Lets do it.  I made a list of potential subjects on my smart phone and off we go.  I’m on number 14 now so I’m going to start posting them.  That will keep me moving.

Full Moon Lake Ella

This one was done on the night that the moon was closest to the earth and therefore supposedly the biggest it would be all year.  This is Lake Ella.  It’s a small lake in the middle of Tallahassee.  It has a walking path around it that is slightly more than half a mile.  There are lots of people walking around the lake even at a late hour.  It’s fun to meet the people and listen to comments as they see the painting progresses while they walk around the lake.    I like to paint there.

So this is the first one.  I think I’ll post all twenty.  But I can’t guarantee that I won’t wipe off one or two and start over.

Thanks for looking.

Life Whirling By

 

This is a recent creation.  It’s from a rural county road west of Tallahassee.  As you know, I’m a fan of bike riding.  Most of what I do is mountain bike riding, but part of my training for that sport puts me on a road bike at least a couple of days a week.  It’s sounds kind of crazy to someone not familiar with cycling, but it’s not uncommon to get together with some of my riding friends and do a weekend ride of over fifty miles.  In fact, that’s pretty much the norm.  When you are riding fifty miles “on the road” you seek out, and discover, neat rural roads with little or no traffic.  This area has some beautiful country and you get to take a look every now and then when you aren’t concentrating on the rear wheel of the bike in front of you.   I regularly go out a couple of days after a ride and take photos of some the scenes.   This one is from rural Gadsden County, Florida.  Well at least I think it’s Gadsden County.  It could be South Georgia.  Once you get started you lose track of where you are.  I was aiming for the metal roof of the old barn with the light hitting just right while life quietly passes along the road with only the whirl bike chain through rear derailer and the hum of high pressure tire on paved road.

Thanks for looking.

 

Racing

On the theme of something different.  No painter wants to be “the guy that paints . . .  (you fill in the blank)” .   I’ve been lucky.  There was a time that I was the guy who painted tulips, but I nixed that after a couple of months.  I guess I am the guy who paints Florida landscapes, but that’s a pretty broad category.   I like to experiment with different things and this one is from one of those experiments.  I’ve done three now of my favorite leisure activity –  mountain bike riding and racing.   They are from photos I took during some races over the last couple of years.  I’m not going for a portrait here.  Just trying to capture the movement,  speed and power of the sport.  But there is a prize if you can identify the rider.

Thanks for looking

More from NYC

Been working on some pieces from photos of NYC taken while cheering for Micah during the New York City Marathon.    This is from down in SOHO.  Lots of cool old buildings with interesting architecture.  Trying to add some figures here and there in my plein air work.  Might as well practice with some of these.   Kendall saw the photo of the women that this was done from and said:  ”you thinned her up pretty nicely”.   That’s the artistic license again.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

Winter Park Paint Out

 

Well the busy, busy ten days is over.  Chain of Parks went great.  Seven paintings found new homes.  I met a bunch of new people and heard some great things about my creations.  It was all good.  (Even the rain on Saturday afternoon was okay.  My new tent worked like a charm.  It wasn’t hard to get up and down.   And the rain and wind were no problem.)  I also met some new artist friends at Chain of Parks.  That’s always good.    I took everything down starting at 5:00 pm on Sunday  and by 6:30 pm I was home, and by 8:00 I was on my way to Lake Weir to get up the next morning and start painting in Winter Park at 9:30 am.

Winter Park was also a great experience.  As hard as I worked I feel re-energized by the art I saw created, and the new friends I met and the old friends I got to paint with.  I painted full days.  7 am to 11 pm some days.  (That’s with time in between for lunch and dinner and a couple of hours (or more) and talking with clients or adjusters or other attorneys.)

The painting above was from Saturday morning at the Farmer’s Market.  Everything had to be turned in by 12:00.  I started at 9 and left for the museum at about 11:20.   (That’s one of the most common questions.  ”How long have you been painting?”  ”you mean in general, or this painting?”  ”No, this painting.  No, I mean, I want to know the answer to both questions.”  Well, I started painting almost twenty years ago.  And my usual answer to the other question is that this painting took two hours and 20 years. “)  I’ll post more of the paintings in the future.  Overall it was a great experience.  I sold four paintings, so that was good.  I met some great people.  I got some new stories to tell.   I ate some fantastic food.  I saw some incredible painters seeming to effortlessly create top notch work.  I got energized to continue to improve.  All good.

Here’s a link to the website for the Winter Park Paint Out.  Check out the work.  It’s amazing.   They sold somewhere around 65 paintings!  Good for the artist, good for the museum, good for the people getting great paintings.  Win, win, win.

Thanks for looking.