Spencer's Island

Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia

4x10 watercolor

I made this little sketch in pen and ink before doing the painting. Some elements have been eliminated to showcase the smooth water and Spencer's Island which is off to the left. This is where the Mary Celeste was built. I often wish I could go back in time and see what this land looked like during the Age of Sail. 

Fishing on Naples Pier

Fishing on Naples Pier

6x6 oil on panel
SOLD

One of the favorite places to fish, stroll and people watch is the 2000 foot long pier in the heart of Naples. This painting is going to the Art Boutique, my gallery at Tin City. I have new cards and soon will have new giclees of this and other local scenes. Be sure to visit.  

Sunlit Palms

"Sunlit Palms" 6x6 oil 
SOLD

This month's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge is 'sunlight'. Plenty of sunlight here in Naples. These palms are next to my house and glow in the late afternoon sunlight.

Cleaning the Catch on Naples Pier

"Cleaning the Catch" 18x24 oil on canvas

Our hot summer rolls on here by the sea. I wish I could say that I'm accomplishing lots of things, but mostly I'm just getting a few home  and yard improvements taken care of and reading on the beach or in my air conditioned rooms. 

This 18"x24" scene of people cleaning fish on Naples Pier is on stretched canvas and was painted for the Faculty show at Von Liebig Art Center in Naples. It goes up October 20th through November 24th. Preview party is Friday night, October 19th.

What are you reading?

Girls Just Wanna Paint

It's important to note that I am not always completely successful in my paintings and I don't post any that aren't up to my standards. This is different because I'm stretching and need some feedback. I was going for that backlit, sparkly sunlit water thing and I almost wiped it.  
Can You tell what's going on here?    
This is my entry for Girls Just Wanna Paint.

Peachy Gerbera Daisy

Gerbera Daisy 6x6 oil on gesso board

This Gerbera was a tough one. Part of the flower is in the shadow and is very dark and part of the flower is brightly lit. The value pattern is one of the key elements in a painting and this was a bit of a struggle. Despite the brilliant colors in the flower the mixtures are mostly grays so as to set off the pops of color throughout the painting.
Also, in spite of some sprinkles I managed to get in my swim this morning.. Of course I was the only one in the pool :D
I can't tell you what a distraction sunny days are. I feel like I should be out doing something but today, I'm loving  the cool, cloudy, rainy day we're having. Perfect for being in the studio. 
My last class at Von Liebig is Thursday, April 26 from 9-12. Click on my Classes and Workshops page above to sign up on line. This class has been a lot of fun! Hope to see you there.

Shell Game

$100.00 plus $10 S&H

Where's the pea?

Just Sketching

I bought some of those cool sketching pens you can use with paints and started doing some pen and ink sketches for my Gallery the Art Boutique at Tin City. The original watercolor of Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe was painted last Spring and I did this pen and ink w/c this afternoon. This is a fabulous little Road House out on Rte 41 in the Everglades. If you want to see some fantastic pen and ink watercolors check out Urban Sketchers and their links. Drawing is so important and we artists tend to want to get right to the paint. It's almost like the drawing part is the sit ups and the paint is the pool ;)

Sailing by Naples Pier

Sailing by Naples Pier

6x6 watercolor

SOLD

I was an uncharacteristic early bird this morning arriving at the Naples Pier at 7AM. Wanted to catch the early light and get some photos of the Palm shadows on the beach. It was delightful!! There were lots of other 'early birds' there fishing for minnows and a snowy egret seemed quite at home marching around hoping for a handout, which he finally got and swallowed in one gulp. We are leaving Naples Friday morning and I'm busy right up until then finishing up paintings for the Art Boutique at Tin City. This is one.

View of Naples Pier

This is a 6x6 watercolor of the Naples Pier from 16th Ave South which is one of my favorite beach hangouts. Naples creates beach access at the end of each street along Gulf Shore Blvd with parking meters and unmetered spaces for beach sticker parking. There are no arguments here about 'owning' the beach to the low tide mark. The beach front estates share their fabulous beaches with the likes of me :D

The weather is amazingly sunny in the low 80's BUT breezy with little humidity. Normally at this time of year we're hitting the low 90's regularly with humid air. This is really COOL!! Like 'perfect summer' would be at home in Marshfield.

Naples Pier

JoAnn Sanborn of Marco Island,  a fellow blogger and a former North Shore girl from Gloucester, MA, invited me to a luncheon she organized today at the Marco Island Yacht Club. There were eight other women artists, one of whom was celebrating her 80th birthday. These women hadn't met in some time and the custom at this luncheon is to go around the table and talk about your art and share any 'good' news.  It was wonderful to meet these 'girls' and talk art, plus it was in a sweet little private dining room overlooking the Inland Waterway and the Jolley Bridge, and the food was great. We were there for two and a half hours before we even realized it! I made some new friends for next season and will perhaps join the Art League of Marco Island so I can participate in their events. Afterward I took a ride out into the Everglades to do some painting and take some photos. It was a GREAT DAY! 

I'm preparing some watercolors of  local scenery and Florida subjects for The Art Boutique at Tin City, where I show some of my work. We'll be leaving here in about three weeks and I want to leave them with a full inventory of original matted paintings in cellophane all sized to fit standard frames and a bargain at $75 each.

Star Fruit #2

Before I get to my post today, I will mention that many of you have been telling me about problems accessing my blog or my comments section over the past several months. I ask that you email me at Wendl15@verizon.net (How do I make my email a link?) if you have this problem and thanks to those who have. It seems to be something I will have to go to blogger help and figure out myself. I would rather have a root canal :( Also, my feeds seem to have been interrupted by my blog becoming oversize and 'invalid'. That will take another trip to FeedBurner help and there's something I need to do there to reduce the size of my blog. I KNEW this had been TOO EASY, TOO LONG :::grrrr:::: So bear with me. I will get it straightened out soon. On a lighter note, a little gallery called "Art Boutique at Tin City", opened up here in Naples a few weeks ago and I was asked to submit work. They accepted some of my 6x6's on easels and a rack of my note cards. I'm waiting on mats for a number of small watercolors to shrink wrap for bin work and they asked for several copies of my giclee of Day's Cottages, one to be framed. Today I went down and painted in the gallery. Behind me was a picture window which folks could watch through. The staff are great people who are really into it. They have to re-hang frequently as new art comes in and are very attentive but not intrusive to the browsers. Rather than try for a winning painting in the unfamiliar setting, I used the time to finish up this star fruit painting, and schmooze with the customers. It was great! Here are some photos from today.