Monday, August 19, 2013

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.


Sunday, April 7, 2013

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

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

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

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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.

Monday, March 25, 2013

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.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

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"

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

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.


Monday, March 4, 2013

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"

Florida Slash Pine Hammock

  Old Florida Slash Pine Hammock oil/linen 24" x 12" Old Florida Backcountry oil painting of Slash Pine  and Saw Palmetto Forest