Showing posts with label M Gallery of Fine Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M Gallery of Fine Art. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Myakka Evening 18 x 24 Available at M Gallery of Fine Art
It's been a long, cold, wet winter here in northeast Texas. Today feels a bit like spring even though its only 45 degrees out. But, the sun is shining and the dogs are out sunning themselves in the yard. Spring can't be far away, can it?
I have just a few spots left in my upcoming online classes. Painting the Luminous Landscape - 3 spots left The Painted Sky- 4 spots left
Showers Offshore 9 x 18 Available at M Gallery of Fine Art
I'm leaving early tomorrow for Florida but I wanted to post a few more paintings from the show. The opening reception at M Gallery of Fine Art in Sarasota is Friday, February 5 from 6-9PM. If you are in the area, please stop in!
Moon Over Myakka 18 x 24
I also wanted to mention that I have two online classes coming up- Painting the Luminous Landscape and The Painted Sky. Info and registration is here.
Morning on the Flats 16 x 30 Available at M Gallery of Fine Art
All up and down the west coast of Florida, there are bays, inlets, and saltwater flats- the skinny (shallow) water where the best fishing can be found. For years, my dad and my husband Steve would meet in Cedar Key or Homosassa in the hours before dawn to head out into the Gulf to fish. My dad, born and raised in Florida, had been a bass fisherman all his life, and had never spent much time on open saltwater (unless you count that little trip from England to Normandy in 1944). It was a new challenge and one he readily embraced in that last decade of his life. So, I was thinking of them, out there on the flats at dawn, when I painted this.
Hazy Morning 20 x 16 Available at M Gallery of Fine Art, Sarasota
As I've been preparing for this show I've been rereading a couple of books I have on Martin Johnson Heade. Heade was one of those very underrated 19th century American artists who had always been loosely associated with the Hudson River School. New scholarship in the last 40 years has rescued him from obscurity, and placed him within the Luminist school. Today his star is rising. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he wasn't particularly famous during his lifetime, so discoveries of Heade's in thrift shops and attics has been a common and profitable occurrence over the last few years.
A number of well known 19th century artists visited and painted Florida -Inness, Homer and Sargent to name a few. But, Heade was the only one who made a permanent home there. He lived in St. Augustine for the last two decades of his life and painted exquisite marsh scenes as well as still lifes of tropical plants and birds, particularlyhummingbirds. Its important to remember that when Heade came to Florida in the 1880's it was the last frontier left in the east. The extension of the railroad into Florida facilitated its growth and the presence of patrons interested in collecting landscapes depicting its tropical beauty.
When Heade came to Florida it was not only a tropical frontier but virgin territory artistically as well. There were no artistic traditions or schools upon which to draw. Heade's voluminous output during these two decades was not only unique but the first aesthetic exploration of Florida motifs, from landscape to flora and fauna. Although there are many who paint Florida today, Heade was the first to answer the call.
Moon Over Myakka 7 1/2 x 10 Vine charcoal and white conte on Twinrocker handmade paper
I made this drawing as a study for a painting for my solo show at M Gallery of Fine Art in Sarasota next month. My husband says its hokey- well actually, I asked him if he thought it was, and he said yes. Note to self: don't ask questions you don't want the answer to. I prefer to think its romantic.
The trouble is that images of Florida can seem trite even though they are of real places that actually exist (like this one). There is a sort of image overload out there that can't sort out what's real, photography, fine art, or a plastic place mat at the diner. But, of course, there are people out there that think the landscape itself is trite, and how sad is that?
I was born and raised in Florida. I am intimately acquainted with both her real beauty as well as the cheap dime store lipstick and plastic alligator version. I just hope I can do her justice.
8 1/4 x 9 1/4 Vine Charcoal on handmade Twinrocker paper Available at Deborah Paris Fine Art
I've been working away on the paintings for my solo show next month at M Gallery in Sarasota. But, I'm still finding time to continue this series of drawings.
I've also added a new class- The Painted Sky- to my offerings of online classes this spring. Its all about learning to paint beautiful, atmospheric skies. More information about this class can be found here.
Every once in a while you have to shut down and reboot your artistic energy . I've just come off an intense three months in which I completed almost 40 paintings for various shows and events. Although I have a solo show coming up in February at M Gallery in Sarasota, this week I just couldn't pick up a brush. Instead, I made a series of charcoal drawings- some studies for paintings I have in mind to do for the show and some simply for pleasure. I feel better already!
This is a piece I just completed for M Gallery of Fine Art in Sarasota. I posted the study for this piece a while back (ok, it took me too long to get this finished!) I am generally pleased with it. There is a quality of light I was after - its partly the feeling of glare you get on bright days in Florida but also that sense of distance and atmosphere created by layers of moist air - I wanted the viewer to have an experience of that- like you could walk in and put your sun glasses on! I don't know if you can feel that in this image but I think it does come through in the painting.
Myakka Evening
