En Plein Air: Schooner at Woody's Boatyard (Acrylic, 12 x 16)

This morning I went to my friend Woody's boatyard to paint the schooner docked there. Basically I am painting out of the effect. When I got there, the sun just touched the tip of the masts. I knew it wouldn't last long, so I tried hard to remember the effect of the morning sun. The schooner was huge. It reminded me of Van Allsburg's The Wreck of the Zephyr, which was one of the favorite books I used in my Children's Literature class to illustrate how the author/artist implemented perfectly in the book principles of design and logical use of visual art elements. As a matter of fact, I was also carried away by his imagination in the story. Sailing had been a dream in my early years. Painting boats also helps soothe the regret inside for the unfulfilled dream .



En Plein Air Painting: At Leisure (Acrylic 12 x 16)

I know some of you may have been waiting to see the portrait I did yesterday at Punta Gorda VAC. We painted our regular model Photographer Nancy. If you scroll down my blog's Painting Gallery, you will see the portrait I did last time of her. Even though, toward the end of the session, my fellow artists complimented me on the portrait and she was so happy to see it that she came over to give me a hug, saying, "You always got me. I really like it." when Nancy saw her portrait, yet I knew I had a bad feeling about the portrait. I didn't think it even reached my average quality. I understood the reason why my friends liked it was because it looked like Nancy. Honestly, catching likeness isn't too difficult a thing to me. I had higher expectations for myself and didn't think its color was clear enough. I dragged too much when I was painting it and I knew I was in trouble. Whenever I have a situation like that, what I usually would do is trying to make another painting to my own satisfaction. That was why I made the painting today.

I didn't go to Patio De Leon Plaza with Lee Plein Air Group because I painted the place before. I was thinking of going to Meloy Hay Co. again, so I drove to Highway 80. Suddenly, in Alva, through the cracks between oak trees I saw a fairly big boat on water. I remembered I noticed the place sometime ago on Google map and wondered why I had never paid attention to this hidden part of the Caloosahatchee River which almost came upon Highway 80. Therefore, I made a U-turn and pulled my car to the water. It was a beautiful area and even perfect for an artist because of the oak over me like a huge umbrella. I set up to paint. In about a half hour, a guy named Woody came out of the door in a fence. It turned out to be his property and I was trespassing. Woody was very friendly and let me stay to paint. Besides, he gave me his phone number and said I could call him whenever I wanted to paint there. When I was finished, Woody invited me to his boat yard beyond the fence. My! There was a luxurious yacht, a colossal three-mast sailing boat and some small ones. Lucky me, I guess. Woody was in yacht business.

Today's painting in acrylic is OK. At least, I didn't have any more of the bad feelings from the portrait. I always tried to control the blazing effect of acrylic paint, which, sometimes, reminded me of the unreal color of High Definition TV. You know what I mean. That's why I usually prefer oil if I have to pick one medium. Last Wednesday at Ft. Myers Beach, I commented on my own acrylic painting I did at Salty Sam's Marina by saying, "It looks a little too commercial." Jo Ann asked what was wrong with being commercial. Good question! Later, when I thought it over, I would say: If a painting is too commercial , it is somewhat like a pretty girl being coquettish. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a girl's coquettishness. However, I'd like to see more of the beauty inside.



En Plein Air: The Tropical Breeze Casino on Dock (Acrylic, 12 x 16)

It was Ft. Myers Beach Art Association's Plein Air Painting Day. I went to Salty Sam's Marina this morning. I had painted the building before. For a change, I chose to paint the boat docked down the stream toward the Estero Blvd. Bridge. Not till after I finished the painting did I find out that her name was Tropical Breeze Casino. I was surprised and had the question: Was it  true that gambling was allowed here at the Ft. Myers Beach? Jennifer helped me search online with her smart phone. It turned out the boat was registered at Key West. It came to Ft. Myers Beach only seasonally. And I don't think people can board the boat here to gamble. Thank god.



En Plein Air: Two Workboats Docked at Bowditch Point Park (Oil, 9 x 12)

Yesterday morning I went to Bowditch Point Park. It was a scheduled activity with Lee Plein Air Group, but I didn't see anyone else. Not did I go very far from the parking lot before I saw the two workboats docked there. I didn't know the technical terms of the boats. They were not for pleasure, for sure. Just a practice.



Alla Prima Figure: Rick Without Moustache (Oil, 20 x 16)

 

Rick is our regular model at Punta Gorda VAC. Today he posed for us again. The reason I used this title is because he had his moustache last time when he posed for us. If you go to the Painting Gallery of my blog and scroll down, you will see the portrait I made under the title Rick, the Biker. As a matter of fact, the portrait let me win an award last fall. Rick said it was the first time in 30 years that he shaved off his moustache, so it was also the first time for his son to see him without moustache.

 

For the first time, as far as I know, VAC Portrait Studio had a model posing like that. It was all because of me. I was so sick and tired of painting the kind of pose in which the model always sat in the what I called the movie director's personal chair that I considered not going to the portrait studio every week if it went on like that. Finally, I suggested to Trudy, a soft-speaking nice lady who happened to be our Portrait Studio leader, that we do something about it. Trudy was very open-minded and supportive. Therefore, we rolled out from the storage the mobile mini stage which usually the live drawing group used in the evening. I put away the movie director chair. Instead, we used a step ladder with a cushion on the top to make it comfortable to sit on. Rick was a great model, very professional. Unlike many others, he would go back to the pose immediately upon hearing the timer ringing which indicated the end of the  break even though quite a few of my fellow artists had not come back yet. I did this quick oil sketch. Hope you like it.





En Plein Air: Harns Marsh, Lehigh Acres, FL

Oil 9 x 12

 

This morning I went with Ft. Myers Beach artists to paint en plein air at Harns Marsh. I wish I could have walked further to paint. It was a quick sketch, taking only two hours.



Value Study: RV Hidden in a Pine Grove (Acrylic 10 x 16)