Florida plein air

I had a chance while visiting my mother in Sebring, Florida, for a couple of paintings. Both old-time Florida. An in-town bungalow, probably from the 30s, and a vignette of what much of Florida must have looked like years ago, at the nearby Highlands Hammock State Park.

Sebring bungalow,
oil, 12" x 9"

Florida pines,
oil, 11" x 9"

Artistic license

When selecting a location to paint you don’t usually find everything is exactly as you would like it. A painting must be designed. If the composition would be better with the tree moved to the left a little, then you do it. Same thing if it would look more pleasing to have the path going a different direction than it does. A location should really be a starting point, the inspiration for the art. If it’s a familiar and recognizable place for many people, obviously you are going to try and capture that, but the artist needs to judge what to leave in and what to leave out to get the best result.

In the studio you have more time to design and make adjustments to the composition then when plein air painting. With this piece I took some artistic license. It’s based on a beach in Kihei, Maui. The house or hale, was really a two-story condo building. It had about the same roof line, but I wanted it to be a tropical beach cottage on stilts. The stretch of sand here was plain with nothing to the east to cast shadows, so I used some from a spot down the shore a little. The west Maui mountains were visible to the left, but really would have been off the canvas, so I brought them to the right leading to the house.

I’m happy with the way this turned out in my studio, but it wasn’t quite as enjoyable as standing along the shore, feeling the tropical breeze and listening to the waves as you paint. Two months till I go back.

Island hale, oil, 20" x 16"

Foggy Day

This little lighthouse is on Kalamazoo Lake in Saugatuck/Douglas, Michigan. I don’t know if it was really built to be a functional beacon or just kind of a picturesque decoration to the marina area of this small lake. The Kalamazoo River connects this harbor to Lake Michigan so small ships could come in. The ship is the S.S. Keewatin, a 100+ year old steamship that was docked here when it was saved from the scrap yard many years ago and has been operated as museum. It had become an icon to the area, but this year it was sold and towed to a Canadian port in Ontario, where it was originally from, to be restored.

Foggy day, Saugatuck, oil, 12" x 14"

Tropical evening

A new studio painting. This is a compilation of scenes, mostly a view you’d see from south Maui looking northwest. A little different approach for me. I used mostly thin washes of paint with walnut oil kind of scrubbed on. The lack of sharp edges I thought, works for a low-light, evening scene. I like having some directional strokes adding interest too.

Evening blues, oil, 28" x 15"

Waves of sand

At Point Betsie, on the shore of Lake Michigan, is a large area of protected dunes managed by the Nature Conservancy. I've painted here many times and love to take my camera and explore the shifting sands. Just like the waves on the lake, the sand is blown up into dunes from the prevailing westerly winds. This particular “bowl” was probably 25 to 30 feet deep. The grass, with its reddish roots, holds the hills in-place—for a while, anyway.

Blue dune, oil, 24" x 36"

I've been spending a lot of time in the studio lately doing larger versions of summer plein air and working from studies and photos. I have several shows on the agenda for next year, starting in January, that I am preparing for.

During my artist residency last June, I did a painting in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore of the Burfiend farm. Here is a larger version with a slightly different point of view. When I first started getting back into painting six years ago, I really didn’t want to be bothered with studies. I just wanted to get right into doing a finished piece of art. Now I’m learning what it can mean to bringing ease of production and higher satisfaction with the end result. With this painting and the one in my last post, there was a lot less trial and error or struggle over where to take it. I’m also enjoying working larger without the time constraints of plein air. Next up, a 24" x 36" dune.

Summer afternoon, Burfiend Farm, oil, 18" x 24"

A favorite spot

One of my favorite locations for plein air painting is the beach at Portage Point. It’s a beach park along Lake Michigan on the north side of the Portage Lake channel. Dunes, grass and beautiful coastal views. I’ve painted there more than a dozen times so doing a studio painting came easy with all the studying I’ve done. I particularly love being there in the morning on a sunny day for the shadows.

Morning shore, oil 16" x 20"