Welcome Home to your new cottage!

 

 

Wouldn't you feel welcome here? 

 Surrounded by flower gardens with the beach just a few steps away? 

 

Your Key West conch cottage awaits you.

 

Welcome Home

acrylic

20" x 16"

$395

Blue Boy

I have become quite fond of juxtapositions lately:  Warm against cool, dark against light, calm against active etc.  And turquoise, red, black and white is one of my favorite color combos.  Seems like I used them all in this blue heron portrait. I grayed down the reds a little in this painting to make them recede and the blues stronger.

When I use the word portrait to describe a painting that isn't of a person I mean that the bird, fish, turtle, palm tree or whatever is the only object in the painting.  (I do realize that great portrait painters i.e. Sargent, often painted their subjects surrounded by other objects.) So the next logical step would be to paint the heron in the landscape using the same color palette.  Once again I would like to thank the artists who generously share their reference photos on Wet Canvas.

"Blue Boy"
20" x 16"
$375

P.S.  did you ever do one of the paint-by-numbers of Gainsborough's Blue Boy?  Wasn't it fun!

As Luck would have it

As Luck would have it I am thankfully home safe and sound.  This is the first painting that I did while I was in North Carolina visiting my parents.  These fish are called Opah or Moon fish and I have used them in paintings before.  After the parrot fish painting I was still on a fish kick.  I wanted the boat to be floating peacefully in the middle of lots of activity. (the swimming fish and the swirling clouds) 

I hope everyone is Lucky Enough to find a peaceful haven today.

"Lucky Enough"
20' x 24"
acrylic on canvas
$480

On the road again (almost)

I have been away from home and my studio since Jan 1st.  I have been in NC helping my parents after my Mom had some surgery.  She is doing well and tomorrow I get on the highway and head back to Key West.  I did bring my paints with me (one of the perks of driving is you can drag a lot of stuff with you) and I got some good starts.  Now I can't wait to get into my studio in town and finish them.

But back in KW while I was away this lovey beach scene of mine was sold by the
 Key West Art Center gallery.  It was only in the gallery a week before it sold.  That makes me smile :).

Everyone have a great day.

Maggie

Beautiful swimmer. SOLD

I am having a show at the beginning of March at the Key West Art Center so I am starting to formulate the theme for the show.  I have finished a couple of paintings in same loose style of the turtle paintings.  I'm happy with the paintings, but more important, I'm really happy with the working style of them.  The process really is as important as the finished piece.  The final glow of this painting is a result of all the mistakes I made and then painted over.  One flat layer of paint is not my way of doing things. 

So the way the show is shaping up is that it is going to looser, larger and FUN!

Parrot fish
acyrlic on canvas

20" x 24"
$480 SOLD

Very exciting news about "this old thing"

The January issue of ARTnews magazine has an article titled  "THE FLORIDA KEYS: Inspiring Art" and this image was used in the article.  This is a painting of the historic Armory Building that houses The Studio of Key West - TSKW - and the studios gets a nice mention along with
Wet Paint Gallery and my friend David Scott Meier.   There are lots of wonderful artists in Key West and getting my image included is nice bit of Luck.   Thank you Mandy Miles who wrote the article.  Want to find out more about the Florida Keys?  go to the  TDC  website.

Small changes, big impact

 

It's interesting how just a few changes can have a major impact on a painting.  After painting the first turtle, which was portrait style piece, by that I mean just the turtle, I decided I wanted to put the turtle in a landscape, after all I love to paint landscapes.  So I had the idea that the turtle would be searching for the right beach to lay eggs, which happens at night, I think.  But now, the painting looks more like an illustration (not that there's anything wrong with that) for a children's book than a painting. Maybe just too............. cute.  But not sure how to change it or if I want to.   Here's the first turtle pic for comparison.

 

SOLD

This is not as good a photo as the one above,  it is washed out and not as sharp for some reason.

What's in a name?

 

Sometimes it seems harder to title a painting than to paint one, and titles are important.  They give you a second chance to make a connection with the viewer.  The first with the image, the second with the title.  But I am clueless on this one.  But it will come to me in time.

 

 

 

But one thing I want to share about this painting is that is started out as a Robert Burridge style drip painting.  He usually demonstrates "drip trees", but I turned it into sailboats.  For those of you not familiar with the technique,  you put a band of very loose paint across the top of the canvas, you turn the canvas upside down and let the drips run down the canvas.  Then you let the drips become the tree trunks and do some negative shape painting at the top to define the tree shapes, then paint on until all your areas are resolved.    I did the same thing but I flipped the canvas so that the drips became the sailboat masts.   Now, back to the title dilemma, something about dawn? something about a fleet?  Maybe "White Sails in the Sunrise", too corny?  Oh well, I have to get to work, everyone have a great day.

I needed a little "me time"

I spent most of the summer in a serious study of painting fundamentals, (most of the results were not blog-worthy) and most of the fall making pottery for Margaritaville,  so Sunday I grabbed a few quiet hours in my painting studio and busted out a turtle.  I don't think I ever painted one before but it was fun and maybe a little self-indulgent.  My goal was to stay loose but not forget the fundamentals, (or rules or best practices, whatever you want to call them).

I call him Calypso, very Island-y and also the name of J. Cousteau's boat.  And I see the tutle as an explorer of the seas and this painting as an exploration of fast and loose.  He'd be perfect for a child's room or that white room that needs a pop of color.

Calypso SOLD
acrylic on canvas
20" x 24" 
unframed
$450

It's hard work being one of Santa' helpers!

 I'm cranking out the mugs...

 ......and rolling out the plaques,

 to help make sure that all of Jimmy's fans have a wonderful holiday season.

I was thrilled to be included in Margaritaville's Christmas catalog.  I have been making mugs and plaques non-stop for quite awhile now. ( Well, I did take a little break at Thanksgiving to enjoy my family.)  However, the exposure has been great and the Margaritaville people are a joy to work with, so really who could ask for more.  But please note that I am saving a mug for myself to have a hot buttered rum over the holidays.

 

Do you want your own copy of the catalog or to view it on line?    Click here to get to Margaritavillekeywest.com then scroll down to  the current issue of the Coconut Telegraph.  I'd love to chat more but I have to get back on that potters wheel.