Dollar Store Poppies

As I mentioned before, my painting teacher is off to Italy for the month of September and it seems I've developed "poppy envy". We don't have poppies here in Key West so off I went to the Dollar Tree to see what they had to offer. This bunch came home with me. I also got some other cool things to paint and I will show those when, and if, their paintings ever happen.

I still have dreams of painting poppies in Italy, but for now I am happy with these. And I got to use red, black and turquoise again.

no title yet

8" x 10"

acrylic on canvas

SOLD

framed in a plein air gold frame

All American boy

Those of you who aren't familiar with Key West might not know that the city is home to a multitude of free range roosters and hens. So, chickens and roosters are a popular theme in our local art galleries. They are very Key West and hallowed Americana at the same time. This lovely fellow is painted in one of my favorite color combos, turquoise, red and black.

Happy Labor Day to all.


"All American Boy"
10 x 8"
acrylic on canvas panel
$325
framed in a gold plein air frame

Odds and ends and a new turtle design.

Some fish spoon rests. P.S. Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Store carries these on their web site.

Here are some new coaster designs. Set of four $25.00

3 - Palm platters come with small dip bowls and a pate knife. $74

New Turtle design, he has a kind of bewildered look. I'll work on that. He comes with a dip bowl too.

Odds and ends.

This morning's sunrise. My painting teacher is off to Italy for the month of September. So while he is gone I am going to work on my clouds. He likes the way I do my cloud edges, but he says all my clouds are separate and never layered like real clouds. So I took this photo of cloud layers this morning to be my inspiration.

I've always wanted to paint a rainbow

Something that caught my attention when I was at the beach this summer was the wonderful selection of beach umbrellas. I remember when there where 4 choices, dark green, dark green and white stripes, dark blue and dark blue and white stripes. But these days there are many lovely choices. It was obvious however, that this summer the "rainbow" umbrella was the most popular. The beach was covered with them and it was very festive. Here is my take on the rainbow umbrella against the blue sky.

"A Sunny Day at Rainbow Beach" 20" x 24" $550 framed

A little cloud and sea study.

"Blue Water Sailing" 8" x 10 " $150 framed

Paintings on the wall in the gallery.


Gallery interior.
7 Artists Key West
604 Duval Street KW FLA

Smaller rectangular platter

In addition to the new medium size oval platter, I have also added a medium rectangular shape to my inventory. Here they are with palm appliques. And notice the smaller palm plate in the background with the braided handles.

A new size platter and experimenting with a positive message

Isn't this the truth!
It will be interesting to see how people respond to these in the gallery.

That is a new size platter in the front, and the lemons are new, I usually add strawberries.

Here they are in the gallery. And thanks everyone for the positive feed back on the beach gals, now I'll have to try a larger one. Everyone have a great day.

Friends Since High School

I took this photo on North Topsail Beach in North Carolina this summer. I loved everything about the scene, the colorful umbrellas, the fact that all 3 women were about the same age, they were all reading, they all had L.L. Bean totes. And I liked the fact that they were together and separate at the same time. Each umbrella is like an island. I don't usually feel the need to go super real in my paintings and people are a challenge, so I decided to do a small one before I plunge into a larger one. So I got out my small brushes and went for it.

I did a sketch on a small canvas, and then changed my mind and decided because I wanted a lot of little detail to do it on smooth Bristol paper.

I used all kinds of paints, even the cheap craft paints I'm embarrassed to say I own. And then I thought I would use my pencils, but they didn't work as well as I had hoped, but they came in handy in some detail spaces.

So now I have a small study and plan to do a large one. I think the woman on the left came out best of the figures, but I like the umbrella on the right the best.

I'm calling it "Friends since high school"

The Usual Suspects

After two vacations this summer my inventory in the gallery is depleted, so I have been working on "the usual suspects" to go into the gallery asap. Here are some entertainment sets and spoon rests just out of the bisque fire.

Glazing in progress: Messy.

The lead free glaze I use goes on opaque and fires clear. I dip and pour the glaze to get an even coat.

Here they are out of the glaze fire, nice and shiny. Now into the gallery they go.

maggieruley.com
7 Artists Key West

Count your blessings

In painting class today we sat on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico and looked out on this beautiful vista. I am fortunate indeed. Today's class lesson was abstracted seascape using cardboard (small pieces of old mat board) instead of brushes. I opted to use my palette knife instead. I have been using the knife a lot this summer and wanted to continue. This painting is larger than what I have been doing lately. 20" x 24", acrylic on canvas on board. I think it is finished, but I have to look at it for a day or two. I am looking forward to putting a frame on this and taking it into the gallery.

One of the best parts of class is the critique at the end. You get to see every ones paintings and hear what Jim has to say about them.

Plein air painting for the uninspired.

This painting of a variegated Agave and flower friend are from Jim Salem's painting class last week. The lesson of the class was "what do you do when you go out to paint and none of the "big vistas" inspire you? The solution is to find a very small area you like and paint it life size. I found this lovely variegate agave and his flower friend nestled at the base of a gumbo limbo tree (they have a red shiny bark) and loved the cool and warm colors together. I did not finish this painting in one plein air session, but continued with it in the studio over the next several days. I haven't settled on a title I like yet, but when one comes to me it will go into a frame and into the gallery.

There is an unfortunate glare on the top of the photo, pretend you don't notice.

11x 14"
acrylic on canvas on board
$375.00