Falling Water Finals

video

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

A series of paintings of the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

near Naples, Florida.

I've spent many hours working plein air in this magical place- looking to capture the essence of the pristine Florida wilderness- perhaps somehow witnessing through proximity to these massively giant trees that are a living link to secrets thousands of years old.

Corkscrew Sentinels

16" x 24"

Corkscrew Giants

19" x 28"

Grove of the Ancients
24" x 36"

Corkscrew Sunrise
22" x 36"

Ancient Witness
18" 26"

Falling Water S.P. Florida

Here's the finished painting of Falling Water State Park,

The painting took some time for me to capture the essence of the falls. 

The sense of the mist and the rainbow materializing in a ray of light that falls into the shaft, with ferns

 clinging to the sides of the rock. Beyond and above there is the creek that tumbles forward, yet never reaching the river as it it's fate is to be swallowed by the earth.

Falling Water
18" x 20"

Here's a version with a layer showing a slightly darker rocks.

Golden Sunset

Here's a small plein air sketch, in an old orange grove by a canal near Naples.

Golden Sunset

9" x 12"

oil on linen

Everglades City Sunset

Here's a plein air view from near the crab boat slips, looking toward the airport .

Everglades City Sunset

16" x 24"

oil on linen

Everglades Majesty

Painted at the Collier Seminole State Park. Hiked in with my gear from the parking lot about 20 minutes

and found this amazing view... I could have been deep in the heart of the Amazon, miles from civilization, if I didn't know better.

Everglades Majesty

12" x 18"

oil on linen

Everglades City Hall

Here's a plein air view I painted in front of the city hall in Everglades City.

Everglades City Hall

18" x 20"

oil on linen

The Old Orange Grove

Here's a view I painted in an old orange grove populated by Sabal palms and Melalueca near the Southwest Florida Conservancy in Naples, Florida.

The Old Orange Grove

14" x 26"

oil on  linen

Home of the Heron

Here's a plein air scene I painted from a canal winding itself through east Naples

Home of the Heron
16" x 20"
oil on linen

Corkscrew Sentinels

Here's a plein air scene I painted in the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Southwest Florida.
Although situated in the city proper of Naples, the park is actually closer to Immokalee and Fort Myers.

Corkscrew Sentinels
14" x 26"
oil on linen

Sunset in the Everglades

Here's a painting I did from a plein air sketch I painted along alligator alley between Miami and Everglades City. Painted on gold leaf on linen using gold mica flake oil paints with a palette of traditional oil paints.

Sunset in the Everglades

16" x 20"

Oil on linen / gold leaf

Here is a sketch for a larger 30" x 30" painting.

Moonrise over the Everglades

Painted en plein air near the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

Moonrise over the Everglades

16" x 20"
oil on linen

The Abandoned Boat

Here's a painting that I executed near the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

A favorite motif of mine- a boat out of water.

The Abandoned Boat

12" x 22"
Oil on Linen

Florida Moonrise

Florida Mooonrise

20" x  24"

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Corkscrew Swamp

14" x 22"

I ventured out on the boardwalk to find this motif.

Florida Palms

Florida Palms 14" x 16"

Ebbing Light

Another favorite group of Melaleuca and Sabal palm in Naples.

Florida Hammock

Near the Conservancy in Naples I found a quiet spot,- classic  tropical hardwood hammock.

Everglades City Crab Boat

Here's a plein aire scene that I painted along the inlet in Everglades City where all the Stone Crab boats are tied up.The fisherman have their traps and gear stacked nearby and the multicolored floats hanging in the palm and malaleuca have great charm .

Everglades City Crab Boat 20" x 24"

A Quiet Cove

This is another classic everglades scene I painted from Route 41 between Naples and Miami.

A Quiet Cove 24" x 36"

Tamiami Trail

Here's a painting I painted from the side of the road east of everglades city beyond the Big Cypress Park.

Tamiami Trail 24" x 36"

High and Dry

Painted from the same spot - another view of the abandoned boat.

High and Dry 12" x 16"

The Abandoned Boat

Fresh off the easel- another of my favorite motifs-

The Abandoned Boat 12" x 20"

Sunset Palms

Here"s a little plein air sketch I made at the Conservancy of South Florida in Naples.

This one is entitled

 Sunset Palms 9" x 12"

Cayo Costa

A bit of the beach with some Sabal Palms in sunset light.

Plein Air from Cayo Costa beach across from Boca Grande.
Cayo Costa Sunset 12" x 12"

Florida Palms

Here's another painting 24" x 30" Florida Palms

that I'm putting some last touches on.
The Cuban Palm in the center of the composition needs work, as well as the sky and the foreground.
Some harmonizing sky motif seems to be called for here.

Florida Sunset

Here's a painting that I'm just finishing up.
Really an experiment in close value modeling, I'm finding that I am using the red-green simultaneous contrast as my color mixing harmonic,as the vortex of orange light diminishes , the local color and shadow creep back into the mass tone.I remember years ago there was a George Inness exhibition at the Metropolitan museum,  and there was a dusk-afterglow landscape that I was totally captivated by. I was blown away by the extreme close value modeling in dark silhouettes in back light, and how chroma was squashed down so that it was irrelevant... all that mattered were extremely small variations in color temperature which made forms recede into the mist.Making these forms recede while in front of a vortex of warm light , as in a sunset, requires using the tools of contrast as well as color temperature.
Florida Sunset 24" x 48"