Series of Paintings, So Near and Yet so Far studio painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

So Near and Yet so Far

16x20

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This painting, finished just before Christmas has gone to a very nice home. It's a little more painterly than some of my work, and I like the effect of the light infusing the landscape. This spot would work as a Monet-type pond, since the sky and water always show the passage of light and time in an exciting way. There's precedence in art for painting a scene over and over again in different natural conditions. Returning to beloved places and painting them again, allows an artist to find in them renewed and deepened interest each time.

It's not that an artist has run out of ideas when they decided to paint a series, but that they have chosen to explore a subject more fully than can be resolved in a single painting. This can be done by painting a particular scene over and over until the artist is satisfied that the subject has been fully explored. It can be done by using each painting as a stepping stone to the next--they're connected by their technique and subject, but each delves further into the subject until the artist has satisfied their curiosity. I'm working on a group of elongated palms on the beach that are related and seem to grow from each other, and this subject continues to intrigue me so I know there's room for more exploration.

In addition to Monet's water lily series, one very famous series of paintings are Van Gogh's Sunflowers. His yellow sunflowers were painted in every stage from opening bloom to decay. Van Gogh told his brother that "the sunflowers are mine" because from his work he learned every nuance of their being.

The Everglades provide this kind of fascination for me, and I never tire of learning more about the way the light and landscape interact. But so far I have not made a commitment to paint the same location over and over. There's just too much to enjoy and explore.

Big Moon, Beach Palms Daily Painting by Everglades Artist JoAnn Sanborn

Sorry for the delay in today's post. Internet computer failed completely and a new modem was in order. Now I have cords all over the place until I get everything back in place. Funny how something I didn't need a few years ago, like the Internet, is now such a part of my life that two day's without it are difficult! Even missed my Twitter and Facebook friends!

Have you noticed that I've put a moon phase widget on the blog? If you ever want to know what phase the moon is in you can just take a look down the right hand column of the blog. Today it's a full moon, and the biggest moon in a very long time. Earlier clouds have cleared and even though it's getting cold (again) we should be able to enjoy tonight's big moon. Be sure and go take a look. It should be very beautiful, and If you're a romantic, take a nice long walk with a loved one or ones!

Today's daily painting is one that I'm trying out a couple of compositions for a large painting of one of the nicest Marco Island views. Palms on the beach are such a delight since they provide a nice vertical to our nearly horizontal landscape, and with just the littlest of breezes their fronds provide wonderful negative shapes against the sky.

Beach Palms
7" x 5" (17.8cm x 12.7cm)

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Rule of Thirds, Summer Silouette Studio Painting by JoAnn Sanborn

Summer Silouette

30x40

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One composition decision that deserves some discussion is the rule of thirds. It’s a very simplified version of the Golden Ratio. Dividing something into one third, two thirds is very pleasing to our eye, and is an easy way to make sure the compositional balance of your painting will work. This can apply to any painting, but I’ll describe it through the landscape here.

If you are planning to focus on the sky, make sure it has the larger, two thirds portion of the canvas. If your painting will be mostly about the land, make that the two-third portion. Let’s say the land will have the larger portion. Divided that portion into the foreground, middle and background, make sure the one you want to focus on gets almost two thirds of the space.

Carry this rule of thirds out on every decision in your painting. One third above middle gray in value, two-thirds below. One third of the colors cool, and two thirds warm. One third in sunlight, two thirds in shadow. One third complement, two thirds dominant color.

Pushing the ratios even father leads to more interesting composition. Use this information as a tool, not a formula. But if you have a painting that isn't quite working, applying the rule of thirds can sometimes help you towards a solution.

Limited Palette Basics, Sun Shadows Studio Painting by Jo-Ann Sanborn

Sun Shadows

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Using a limited palette is one of the best ways to gain control over your palette. You will become very familiar with each color you choose and are forced to explore the limits of it’s usefulness to get a full range of value and color in your painting.


Your palette will be purer and your colors clearer if your primary colors contain pigments for only one other color. For example, your warm red will contain red and yellow, and your cool red will contain red and blue. Your warm blue will contain blue and yellow, and your cool blue will contain blue and green. Your warm yellow will contain yellow and red, and your cool yellow will contain yellow and blue.

If you add any secondary colors to this basic palette, you will want to make sure that they are the true compliments of the primaries. If they are they will make a lovely, lively neutral color rather than a dead, flat color. Black should be added to the palette with caution, since it is a subtractive color that takes light and color away. It’s almost never a good choice to darken, and best used purely as the color black.

White can lighten, but it also neutralizes your color. Titanium is a heavy, opaque white used for good coverage, while Zinc white is more transparent. Transparent mixing white is a fairly new color that can be used to thin out and extend your color without neutralizing it.

In today's Everglades painting I’ve used a limited palette of Quinacridone Crimson, Cerulean Blue, and Lemon Medium Azo, Quinacridone Magenta, Ultramarine Blue and Naples Yellow and a Hookers Deep Permanent green to help with the darks, and Titanium White.

You can simplify even further by using only three primaries plus white and still have all the range you need. Try it, and you’ll find that you may produce some of your most colorful paintings.

Process - Painting from Photographs

Whether still life, portraiture or landscape, an artist needs to view a live version their subject in order to know it fully. A landscape painter must spent time outside to have the secrets of the land revealed. The landscape has many personalities, changes very quickly and reveals its secrets slowly. It takes patience and perception to see what she has to offer.

In the past I've spent many hours in the Everglades and in areas around Marco Island painting. I like responding directly to the landscape. My usually practice is to "block out" the painting outside, but take it back to the studio for further interpretation. Sometimes, however, it's necessary to work from photographs. This is fine as long as you took the photograph yourself and understand a photographs limitations. It's not a good idea to use someone else's photograph for many reasons, but that's a subject for another day! Photographs flatten the scene, and reduce the value range, so you'll have to make up for this in the painting.

I'm going to use the above photograph to start a new studio painting. I want the painting to be about the palm tree, so I'm going to shorten and push back the surrounding pines. There's a nice dark in the front that I'll carry through to the back, and some palmetto bushes to set off the palm. The light sky makes a nice negative coming into the foliage. Let's get started!

First mix up a nice dark use it to block out everything but the lightest portions of the composition. I use a mix of the warm red and blue on my palette, like quinacridone crimson and ultramarine blue. If it's too purple I'll mix in a little brown or green to keep it neutral. Using a fairly dry brush I scrub the shape of the dark trees and bushes into the dark canvas. You can barely see the forms, but that's OK. After I'm satisfied with the dark pattern, I very roughly block out the light sky. This is only the first stage, and the painting will be completed by many layers of paint as the forms are built.

Now it's time for a value check. This painting will be mostly darkish midtones, with a smaller portion being light sky and the smallest portion being the darkest darks. I'll take a break if it's going well at this point.

Painting of Everglades "Warming in Sunshine"

Warming In Sunshine

24x36

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This is the start of a new blog for the larger paintings that I do in my studio on Marco Island, Warming in Sunshine is one of the completed paintings done this summer in preparation for my show at the Marco Center for the Arts Wine and Art as Featured Artist for August. The show will hang for the rest of the month, and then unsold paintings will come back to the studio and wait to be adopted into a new home.