Ft. Myers "Paint the Beach" Event

I recently attended the annual plein air "Paint the Beach" event in Ft. Myers Beach, Florida with my friend, Denise Broussard.  Our hubbies stayed home to take care of our puppies and we headed for our beach adventure.

The painting event was a week long and included 3 days of painting plus a quick draw competition. The weeks events began with a "Meet and Greet" reception at Nervous Nellies Bar and Grill.

Day 1 - We decided on shrimp boats, go figure.  While checking out the docked shrimp boats the day before we met the captain of the Pirates Sons (black and white boat below) who offered us the opportunity to sit and paint from their boat deck the next day as the crew would be off, sweet.

We showed up next morning, set up and painted. The bay winds were brutal.  I tried putting up my umbrella but that was hopeless, although I did manage to crank out a painting.

Here I am painting from the stern of the boat.

Day 2 - We headed to Ascension Catholic Church grounds.  We started the day by attending the 8 a.m. mass in the chapel of the San Damiano Monastery of St. Clare on the church grounds then setup outside to paint the church.  The church and grounds were beautiful!  It was a very pleasant day of painting with no winds to battle.

Day 3 - We headed for the beach to paint.  We had a few hiccups like where to tie down the umbrella, volley ball nets and wind, but I was pleased at my end result.  Did you know sand does not stick to a brush with turp on it... lol

Day 4 - This day was turn in your paintings and the gala reception that night.

Day 5 - We headed to the Ft. Myers Time Square to have our canvases and panels stamped then setup to paint the 2 hour quick draw.  I'm not a fast painter so this rush rush made me a little nervous.  I decided to paint small (8 x 8 panel).

Here I am cleaning up after the quick draw, painting completed, pressure off.























Because we had such a long trip home we decided to pack up and head home shortly after the judging.  This was a great trip and I am grateful for the wonderful memories but also happy to be back home.

Breaux's Grocery in Leroy, LA

My quest to paint "en plein air" continues as I travel nearby looking to spot something that interests me.  I decided on the little grocery store in Leroy, LA.  I've been wanting to paint this little store for some time.  Lucy and I headed out on a Friday morning to enjoy the day and cooler temperatures. We had a wonderful day visiting with the locals.  I met 2 artists, a man who offered for me to paint his horse and several others who stopped by to see what I was doing.

The store serves sandwiches and the local farmers would stop in to pick one up and/or sit on this sweet little bench under the umbrella to eat their lunch and enjoy the day.

Painting Shrimpboats on Tuesday

Today is my plein air painting adventure day with my Lucy and  painting buddy Denise Broussard. You guessed it, we painted shrimp boats again.  Olive Lou stayed home with her daddy today so Lucy didn't have a friend to play with while we painted but she was such a little angel.

We got out on location early, checked out the marina to try and finish out paintings from last week but the boat I was painting was out fishing and other boats were in the way for Denise to continue her painting.  Guess that one is for another trip later.

We decided to leave there and went back to our spot with the larger boats. As I began setting up a few things went wrong.  I have this 6' umbrella and a plein air umbrella that I usually bring. Rushing to get out of the house, I forgot my umbrella stand at home.  When I opened the big red umbrella, the thumb stopper that keeps the umbrella open was broken. So, I improvised.   I shoved an old toothbrush I had in my paint stuff into the umbrella and laid it on its side for shade for Lucy and I used the other one.

Oh, and did I mention, my turp container accidentally opened and all my turp leaked out who knows where.  I borrowed from Denise, thank God for painting buddies.  And it was very, very, very windy. 

Because of our time schedule and all my time lost trying to figure out the umbrella fiasco, I decided not to paint a huge painting.  I painted 8 x 8 of three of the boats docked at the end of the canal. Because of all the time I lost, I had to move fast.

I skipped over the sketching, measuring, composition, etc. planning that I usually think through before I begin.  I just put my earphones on, listened to music, enjoyed the day and let everything just flow naturally.

I don't have a picture of this, but there were about 8 boats docked in this small canal.  While we were painting a couple of other boats exchanged places while we were there.  It is so unbelievable  how these captains can just maneuver these huge boats in and out of this small canal like they are parking a little tiny boat.  Amazing!

LUCY ANNA ESCAPADES:

Lucy helping 

"I got this"

Bay Shrimp Boats

Today was another beautiful weather day of painting shrimp boats with my painting buddy, Denise Broussard, and our two Schnauzers, Lucy and Olive.  We headed out to Intracoastal City, LA.  After picking a spot at a local marina, we setup and began painting.

Our puppies love our painting excursions because they get to hang out and play all day.

People love to visit and tell us about their boats, stories and what they do. One man stopped to give us some history about the different bay shrimp boats we were painting today at the Marina. He makes shrimp nets by hand.  We visited for awhile while he told me a few shrimp fishing stories.  The boats we have previously painted are offshore shrimping boats.

The boat I was painting belongs to a very nice man by the name of Buckie. The cabin cruiser boat behind showed up while I was painting...ugh

Although it was a beautiful day with wonderful painting weather, we didn't pick a great day to paint there because before we were finished the grass cutting crew showed up which is not good for paint, paintings and allergies, so we packed up and headed home.

Here is my unfinished piece...to be completed another day.

Shrimp Boats

I've been painting boats with my paint buddy, Denise Broussard, lately.  We are getting our stamina up for our upcoming trip to Ft. Meyers, Florida "Paint the Beach" in November.

The following painting was painted in Delcambre, LA at the public dock area.  We brought our paint mascot Schnauzers Lucy Anna and Olive Lou with us on this excursion. Because we were right at the point of the public dock we smelled boat and exhaust fumes all day, yuck.  Also, we first got there and had just set up, I forgot to tie up my large umbrella and it went sailing into the water.  This very nice man retrieved it for us.  It was so hot that day and with all the distractions, my concentration level was very low.   I have to say when I got home I had to do some fixing on this painting, probably more than I would like to have.

The following is a picture of what I painted from.  To the right of the point is the boat launch.  I wish now that I would have taken a picture of all of the fishermen on the left of where the picture was.  There were 11 boats anchored along the left shore.  I think it would have made a great painting.  Oh well, another day.

The following painting was painted on location in Intracoastal City, LA.  This spot was more of a secluded area where the shrimpers dock their boats and offload at the shrimp plant.  Can you imagine the smell. We had a great painting day but it was very hot.





















Here is the picture of what I was painting from that day.  This small shrimp boat was for sale and docked further into the end of the canal.
















We went back to the same spot again in Intracoastal City, LA  I will probably tweak this boat a little more before I say it is done.

Here is the picture of what was there.  There were definitely more boats there this time.  The building behind is the shrimp processing warehouse with that wonderful smell.  I wish I would have had a bigger canvas to paint all of the view in.  Guess that will be for another day...

Fundraiser at the LAA

The Lafayette Art Association, of which I am a member, is having a fundraiser .  Our Association Artists and Artists in our Community have donated art on 6 x 6 gallery wrapped canvases.  There is a very huge variety of art displayed which denotes the diverse talents of our art association and local community.  When you buy a ticket for $45, this gives you entry to our reception on September 29, 2013 and when your ticket number is called,  you get to pick one of the available paintings of your choice. You buy a ticket, take home a painting!

If any of you would like to buy a ticket, the information to do so is below...

I donated two paintings for the event -- pictured below:

"Pink Rose"

6 x 6 - oils on gallery wrapped canvas

"Orange Poppy"
6 x 6 - oils on gallery wrapped canvas

Hibiscus

This is the last plein air painting I did before the weather turned unbearable here.  My hibiscus bush in the back yard produces the prettiest yellow and pink hibiscus flowers...I'm afraid I don't do it justice.

"Yellow Hibiscus"
8 x 8 - oil on canvas panel

Roses

Here are some of the roses I've been painting...

"Sienna Rose"
8 x 8 - oil on canvas panel

"Pink Rose"
6 x 6 - oil on canvas panel

"Mauve Rose
6 x 6 - oil on panel

Poppies

Okay so I know I have not been blogging lately, with a new puppy and preparations to have a pool built, there is not much time left over.....but I have been painting. Since the weather is so hot here I've been painting florals in my studio.  Here are more of the poppies I've painted.

"Yellow Friends"
8 x 8 - oils on canvas panel

 "Purple Friends"
8 x 8 - oils on canvas panel

"Red Poppy Garden"
8 x 10 - oils on canvas panel

"Dark Pink Poppies"
8 x 10 - oils on canvas panel





















"Enjoying the Poppy"
4 x 6 - oils on canvas panel

Night time in a Louisiana Marsh

About a week ago, while at the Lafayette Art Association and Ty and Sara shared with me a magazine from 2010 that had a few articles on Plein Air.  When I opened the magazine, there were several pictures cut out and placed in there as an added bonus.  I took one and did my interpretation of what I saw there.  There were some very interesting articles which I will try to share in upcoming posts.

Meanwhile, I am going to physical therapy 3x a week.  I have good days and bad days, but I feel things are getting better with my knee.  Hopefully, knee surgery is not in my future.

Lucy had her first haircut this week and she looks like a completely new puppy...all grown up.



Before















After

Here she is trying to convince Mama Cat to play with her.  Mama Cat never runs away, just watches her and knows she is just a baby.

Mother's Day Flowers

These beautiful flowers were a Mother's Day gift from Jason, Kristen, Jackson and Mattie.  This was a vase filled with Alstroemerias and Lillies.  White flowers are such a challenge for me to paint, so I set this up in my studio and I was pretty happy of how it turned out.

"Mother's Day Flowers"

14 x 18 - oils on canvas panel

Paintings Reworked

So what do you do with paintings you don't like?

Some days I just can't get my painting going in the right direction.  When those days happen I usually take the day off from painting because it usually will not get better.  I had these two awful paintings I quit right in the middle of because they were not working.    I didn't throw them away and was not sure what I would do with them.  I noticed them sitting, long forgotten,  in the corner of my studio and decided to rework and change them up, try something different.  I have been on a "Paint Poppies" over and over again thing.

This first painting is a 6 x 6 that I had started a still life with a bottle, a little dish and some brushes in it.  The only thing I liked about the painting was how the bottle was coming out, so I kept it in and painted my poppies around it.

The second one was a still life painting I started on a 9 x 12 with a vase, green onions and some lemons...nothing was working for me. The only thing I felt salvageable was the vase, so I painted in poppies around it.  Some of the background from the previous painting shows through and I thought that was kind of cool.  This one has a lot of green, maybe a little too much.  I may tone that down a bit at some later date.

Fantasy Poppies

I've been doing my take on poppies from my studio since I can't paint outdoors because it is so HOT here.  This is when I wish I were up north to enjoy the cooler temperatures of the summer.  I think my puppy, Lucy, would love it too.  She is so hot.

Also, I hurt my knee and that has put a huge hold on my treks to the woods, etc. for painting.  But I am optimistic that my doctors recommendation of physical therapy 3x a week will strengthen my knee.  He is taking a very conservative approach and that is fine with me.

"Orange Poppies"
8 x 20 - oils on linen
Note:  This is painted on a flat piece of linen and as soon as I am feeling better, this piece will be matted for sale.

"Yellow Poppies"
8 x 19 - oils on linen
Note:  This is painted on a flat piece of linen and as soon as I am feeling better, this piece will be matted for sale.

"Red-Orange Poppies"
24 x 25 - oils on canvas
Note:  This is painted on a flat piece of canvas and can be mounted for sale.