I was inspired by a painting that my friend Maryanne Jacobsen did where she used the most marvelous pink.  I wanted to paint a very happy view of this little boat house at Cape Canaveral.  The boat house actually does sit under this wiggly palm and I got it just about right.  It makes for such a happy view that when I saw the color I decided to try and use it myself in this painting.  I am usually a quieter painter than Maryanne but it sure was fun to make those colors dance and sing!  Check out Maryanne’s paintings and her wonderful blog at  http://www.maryannejacobsen.com/id16.html

This is a study I did in the field at Nokomis Beach by the Jetty.  There are marvelous sea grapes there.  I was inspired by the light that was so bright that it actually flattened things a bit.  I brightened it up some where the light hit the orange leaves but it is still pretty much what I saw that morning.  One lovely thing about our heat is that we also get the most marvelous clouds now.  What a bonus!

Today I took our plein air painting group to Rothenbach Park at the end of Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota Florida.  We have Green Day annually.  This park was the restoration of the town dump.  It is now a gorgeous park with rolling hills and a jungle walk and lake.  This is a chance for us to drop off our toxic chemicals at the recycling center.  There were baby alligators directly below me so I kept one eye out for Mama all morning.  She had three one foot babies swimming near the shore.  It was a beautiful day and the painting was excellent from everyone there.  This is a 9X12 painted on board that I previously covered with layers of gesso. I liked the surface.  Today?  I would have loved anything to paint on…it was just that beautiful and there were about a dozen painters who all left happy with their work.  Can’t beat that!

I tried this image again in the studio today. I used the same size but added the bird since I could actually keep it still with photography!  I don’t know.  I think I like the sky better now but I am still not cracking that water.  This summer I am painting water until I get it!  I am still doing my 100 paintings in 100 days.  I have time to do more water. I also will work on my photography.  This sky looks pink.  It isn’t.

I tried to go to the Cortez Mess About that has beautiful sail boats racing throughout the day.  It had been cancelled. There I was with no little wood bottom boats with lovely sails!  The skies were threatening but there was sun out at the moment.  Seize the day!  Then the day seized me!  I painted through three rain showers.  I tried to remember the sunny moments while I was painting.  I laughed a lot….ah, the life of the plein air painter!

When I get the chance to paint boats under sail, especially wood bottom boats that are so lovely and often hand crafted, I always go and paint.  So much better than painting “boats with sticks” or boats not under sail.  Still, I loved the red buoy and the reflection.  It was still a great painting day!

I did this from a photograph of the wonderful Cortez Mess About in 2009.  The Mess About is a wood bottom boat festival.  Boats came from New England, the Bahama’s and Texas and Florida.  It was wonderful and we got to go out in a boat and take photographs from the sea.  Wonderful day.

Flash forward to the Mess About in 2012.  There were no boats.  There was rain and wind.  I went anyway and painted.  Three times I had to empty my palette of water.  Still, I laughed just as hard on both days.  And the little girl in the pink dress skipping along the beach had the spirit just right….be happy exactly where you are rain or shine.  This is an 8X10 so I am still working pretty small right now.

This is one of my little 5X7 paintings.  I am trying to learn some of the smaller formats.  What I have learned it that small paintings take just as much time as larger ones in the field.  And the smaller formats are making me pay attention to big shapes, negative space, and composition in general.  I think it is helpful to shake things up a bit from time to time.  I notice too that I am less afraid to paint anything at all.

I liked this little bird among the roots of the mangrove trees.  The fishing was pretty good.  The bird flew away after a lunch of three fishes.  This bird was in Naples along a park trail in a little patch of sunlight.

Every Wednesday morning I paint with three other women.  Two are water colorists and two are oil painters.  We are having a show called “A Year at King’s Farm”.  We have been painting there for months.  We were there when the oranges were out, when the lambs were born, and now when the peaches are ready to pick.  It’s such a lovely place.  We asked the owners about doing a show on a year of farm life and they were thrilled.  Stay tuned!

I was painting with the Light Chasers on Thursday at Nokomis Beach.  I had just shown Joe Palmerio [Lightning Joe....because he was done with a beautiful painting in 45 minutes.  Really!] my painting.  Terry, he said, that looks done.  I kept painting.  As he drove away I heard him yell “Terry Stop Painting!”  But later I picked up the brush again.   Suddenly from across the beach painters yelled “Terry STOP Painting!”  Apparently that old saw about it takes two artists to paint a picture is not true.  The one where an artist paints and the other artist whomps them on the head when the painting is done?  Apparently I need a village.

This was my morning entry into my 100 paintings in 100 days for under 100 dollars. It’s a 5X7.  I will be showing these at my current show at the Celery Barn Gallery.  The gala will be during the Art Walk at Towles Court on Friday, April 20th. I am doing the show with Joe Palmerio and Jini Mount.  Jini is the owner of the Celery Barn Gallery.  Years ago, the gallery actually was an old celery barn just west of Sarasota proper.  Now it’s a lovely little gallery in Towles Court, our artist colony in town.  Enjoy!