Marco Island Wet Paint, Empty Easel

I chose this view for my Marco Island Wet Paint site yesterday. The Marco Island Yacht Club Chickee Hut was a perfect location, with shade and nearby facilities, and the cast shadows on the small beach were intriguing. There was a gentle breeze, no one around, and the sun slowly warmed the scene. More of the beautiful palms that grace the bridge entrance demanded attention, too. Many people stopped by to chat, showing that this event is growing in interest. Many of them were artists, but just as many were unaffiliated residents or visitors.

Early in the morning a manatee swam by, and when there was no one around a flock of sandpipers flew in to sit in the sunshine for a few minutes. The light changed throughout the day, and I'll do another painting or two from photos taken. It was a delightful day painting out.

The Viewing and Auction Event, held at sunset at the Hideaway Beach Club was lovely. The "masterpiece" hors d'oerves were delicious, there were more people than last year, and the lighting on the paintings was much better. There were 27 paintings in addition to a silent auction, and every one of them got a bid or two. Since the committee shares half the profits with the artist, most did OK for a single day's work, some did terrific, and others were disappointed.

To the Committee: You have presented a credible, successful event, but you must get more, many more people to attend in the future to make this a true community event. The price of $50 covers your cost, but also eliminates many residents who would love to attend at a lower price. 120 people is not enough to auction 27 paintings. Do the math. There are other issues that may best be discussed in an after-action debriefing. Will there be one?

To the Artists: Great body of work for a one day event! Face it, our very best paintings are rarely done in one day. We spend much of the day talking with the people who come by, and this is time well spent for both our own art and the event. The light changes quickly and sometime unpredictably, and some of you are not used to painting outside. Some of you started ahead, didn't do the painting in one day, and probably got a higher price for your work. Is that fair? What is fair? What will people on Marco pay for? Why did some work go for such a high price, while some other works with better color or composition go for so little? Did you get your collectors to come out and bid? All questions we'll hash over at art events in the next month. If you didn't do well, think of this. The Marco Community is getting to know you and your work. That's good.

Many thanks to the wonderful young couple who bought my painting. I loved painting it and hope it will bring you joy.

Today is a really big day for me. I'm excited because Empty Easel is publishing an article I submitted. If you're not familiar with Empty Easel, take a look. The site is filled with information for and about artists. I read this site daily, thoroughly enjoy, and am still investigating the archives. My article today is about critique, based on a handout I've developed over the years from a variety of sources to help in my workshops. There's always more we can do to make our art better, and looking at it with a critical eye can help!

White Christmas on Marco Island!

White Christmas on Marco Island!

So what if its a white sand beach instead of the cold blowing icy snow? This darling snowman was demanding to be painted, but after struggling with time constraints I decided to make gingersnaps instead. You can have a few if you stop by! Thanks, Vickie, for sharing the photo!

The next few days will be devoted to enjoying the holiday, family and friends. Hope your Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever you celebrate this time of year will bring you much pleasure and good memories. I'll look forward to posting and painting again in the New Year.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

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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Composition, Out to Sea Studio Painting by JoAnn Sanborn

Beach Music

36x36

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Out to Sea is the latest in a series of palms on the beach right here on Marco Island. You can see the others in this series on my daily painting blog here. I've enjoyed exploring the shape and color of these and other palms under a variety of light and circumstances. There's probably a few more paintings on this theme in my future!

Today's art lesson is about of composition. Composition means how the various parts of the painting will fit together and is one of the hardest things to teach. Here are some tips for composing the landscape in a way that will be pleasing. Remember that art rules are really good for learning, but in the right circumstances can be broken!

Ten rules for good composition:

1. Choose the orientation of the canvas according to the subject
Vertical - More dynamic
Good for tall subjects, compressed, elongated images
Horizontal - More pastoral
Subject can spread out

2. Keep the horizon line above or below centerline for more interest

3. Look for interesting underlying shapes in your block-out and exploit them.

4. Use a variety of scale.

5. Remember that negative shapes are as important as positive shapes.

6. Leave a way into the picture - don’t put up a wall

7. Repeat Shapes for unity

8. Create a path for the viewer’s eye

9. Watch for and avoid conflicting lines

10. Above all, avoid monotony

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.