- Written by: Susan
By the third day of painting my precious seashell ornaments, I found that it was important for me to simplify my patterns much as my solitude at Sanibel had simplified my existence. I scattered red-orange shells around the canvas complementing the pattern with shells in blue and green hues. These colors really set the mood - and movement - for the painting. As is often wont in my work, I created atmosphere and negative space in my painting by pushing down or blurring the values of the other shells - only minimally suggesting them, really. For me, this created a piece of visual poetry which mirrored the peace and serenity I experienced on this trip.
Shell Impression III
Prints are available on Fine Art America.
- Written by: Susan
It was imperative for me to get up and out the door by sunrise on the last day of my vacation at the Castaways, Sanibel Island, Fl. I had figured out by this time that I could collect the best "fighting conch shells" as the early tide receded. With as much joy as a child runs to and from waves, I dashed in and out of the water plucking up these beautiful fossils...what was once an organic, living, breathing organism now inert except as it was tossed and tumbled by the tide.
My first morning visitors (not including pelicans and terns) were a woman and her dog. They paid me no heed because their daily ritual was their own. From a distance the dog appeared to me to be a golden retriever with a wonderful caramel coat. I knew I would paint this dog when I returned home as part of my lingering memory.
"Dog on The Beach"
Prints are available on Fine Art America.
- Written by: Susan
The collapsed sand castle in this beach scene was an afterthought in my painting. Actually, I was on Captiva Island when this photo was taken, a short jaunt from my sunny bungalow. The landscape - ambiance - surrounding me changed heading south, albeit subtly. There's many more secluded estates on Capitva, and the beach more pristine...in the sense of less seashells crunching under foot.
So as a final memory after returning home to Tampa, I wanted to paint a quaint beach scene in its perfect simplicity because, while away, my life had become simple, as simple as painting a series of vignettes - sand castles, if you will - only these won't so easily wash away.
Collapsed Sand Castle
Prints are available on Fine Art America.
- "Oil Painting with Expression" - A Landscape Workshop
- Final Touches
- "Oil Painting with Expression" - A Landscape Workshop
- Who Am I? My first Oil Painting
- The Struggle of Taking Risks
- Overcoming Indifference
- Illustration
- The Man with the Piercing Blue Eyes
- A Rutted Path
- A Home for Refuge
- Innocence
- I Need a Friend