A Day in Happy Valley

We made an impromptu trip to Pennsylvania this week to visit some family. This is my brother and sister in law's beautiful back yard.

 We nearly missed the fall colors but did manage to catch the tail end just before they all blow away.
It was warm enough but overcast which was a bit disappointing.

The video is very short this week, so check it out and let me know what you think.

Here is the finished painting which I gave as a thank you gift to my in law's for their incredible generosity and hospitality. I'm missing my photo editing software here. These colors look very washed out compared to the original, but you get the idea.

Leave a comment and tell me what you love about fall. Is it the colors? The temperature? Pumpkins?

Rockefeller's River View

This week the weatherman was calling for rain so I decided to stick close to home for my plein air day. It still hasn't rained by the way. Anyway... here I am at The Casements. It's a lovely estate which was purchased by John Rockefeller in the 1900's, and is located on the Halifax River here in Ormond Beach.

 I found a good spot under cover just in case it did decide to rain. I edited this scene quite a bit by moving some trees and taking out other trees as well as the picnic tables.  I thought the dock would make the painting too cluttered so I removed it as well. I'll paint it another time. So 'simplify' was the word of the day.

Take a look at my brief video to see my progress. It takes just a little over a minute.

Here is the finished painting. Typically I will continue to make minor adjustments over a couple of days. That is likely to occur this time as well.

Rockefeller's River View - oil - 8"x 10" - $280 (framed)

I'd love to read any comments you might have! 

Please comment below.

A Day at the Beach

Who doesn't love to go to the beach? The crashing waves, warm sunshine, salt air... It's great. I love to go and put my toes in the water, watch the shore birds, pick up shells and breath deeply of the fresh salt air.  It gives me a feeling of well being and contentment that I can get in few other places.

Painting the beach is a whole other ball game. Some artists manage to paint beautiful beach scenes with warm clouds and waves that feel wet. They make me feel the sunshine and smell the air. I've never been one of them. As a composition the beach seems a bit boring to me. So when I arrived at New Smyrna beach I decided to try to come up with a composition that would interest me and hopefully others.

I concentrated on the sea oats blowing in the breeze. This is the view I chose. As you can see it was a beautiful day.

Take a look at my (less than) one minute video of my plein air experience painting the beach.

Finished. -------------- I think. :)

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I'm always interested in learning from you.

St. Augustine Inspiration

 I decided to drive up to St. Augustine to do some painting. It's one of my favorite places and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Check out that BLUE sky. Isn't it gorgeous? I've always loved the look of this old church with the greenish dome. I heard a tour operator tell his trolley full of tourists that it was built by Henry Flagler. No big surprise as he seems to have built most of St. Augustine.

I was able to set up in the shade which is always a bonus. And I scored a parking spot where I could keep an eye on things to avoid getting a parking ticket. So far, so good.

My canvas here was 12"x 24". I've never worked this large in plein air before, so this was a challenge. I'll save you the suspense.  I didn't finish. Well, not on location anyway. I ran out of parking meter change after three hours of painting. So I decided to pack up and finish it in my studio.

My 'Got A Minute' video is actually more like a minute and a half this week. Close enough don't you think? Check it out and let me know what you think.  Thanks!

Blue Dome - oil - 12"x 24"
Leah Wiedemer

The Gazebo in the Park

Oh my, but it's been raining a lot here in central Florida. Clouds and rain kept me from making it out to New Smyrna Beach yesterday to paint with my group. So this morning when I saw actual sunshine, I decided to pack up and go paint close to home. This little park is about two blocks away and a favorite haunt for dog walkers, exercisers, and bicyclists.

Most of the passersby seemed pleased to see an artist painting and made complimentary comments as they walked past. One man gave me pause (and not in a good way) with what he had to say. You will have to watch the video to see his comment. It's only a minute 8 seconds.
I'd love to hear any interesting comments people have made while you paint or at art shows. Please leave a comment below.
In the meantime...     Got a minute?   Watch a minute video of my painting in process.