For a wedding! Place Cards by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

A friend of mine got married lately. She speaks fluent Mandarin, and had ties to China through politics and business, and wanted an Asian theme.  Like I've done for friends and family for years, I painted place cards for her.

She wanted three different images so she could use the place cards to show the entree choice of the guests.  So lanterns, vases, and mums represented beef, chicken, or vegan.  I drew the images and hand-colored them, and off to the calligrapher they went. 

I didn't do the calligraphy, but enjoyed seeing them finished, and my young friend was pleased. 

For the Love of Cats, Here comes trouble daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Here comes Trouble, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

It's the Cat's Meow!

ARTWALK TONIGHT!

Artist Colony at the Esplanade on Marco Island

5-8 P.M

FOR THE LOVE OF CATS

joining us tonight for a special evening

Cat and Kitty Paintings!

Refreshments!    Food!    Music! 

 

Prizes for EVERYONE who visits all three galleries!

600th post! Moonrise painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Moonrise, Jo-Ann Sanborn

Acrylic on canvas, 15"x30"

Today I"m posting my 600th post!  Since 2007 I've written about my own artistic journey, the Everglades environment that I adore, about collecting art, and the local or expanded arts community.

Who's my audience?  Artists?  Collectors?  Everglades lovers?  Local art aficionados?  Family?  It's a varied group, and I'm grateful for each of you! 

Every artists knows that not every day at work produces a great painting.  This is especially true when you work each painting as though it's a new idea with a new solution.  Sometimes I'm satisfied and they get sold.  Other times they get reworked until there's no life left in them and they get tossed.  Once in a while struggle of reworking brings on a miracle or a new idea or a revelation.  Growth, the goal! 

It's not easy for me to keep up with the technical aspects of the age. I know I'm at the end of the pack and gasping as I look at the hill ahead and try to stay in the race. Still, I've just joined Google+ and love it, and have Square as my credit card, and love it, too. Proof that some old dogs aren't afraid to try something new.

I though about quitting the blog, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.  It's been a journey of discovery and learning, and I've made some great friends along the way.  There will be some changes, though I'm not sure just what yet.

In the meantime, enjoy my newest painting, Moonrise.   And thank you for traveling with me!  

If you've read my last few posts, you know I've been talking about the Everglades environment and how it works.  I'll continue, but sometimes a break is nice and a visit to the beach is in order.

Marco Island Beach

There are many benfits to a visit to the beach.  Even light waves will send negative oxygen ions into the air around you.

Ahhhhh.  Hope it works for you, too.

Hardwood hammocks, Hammock daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Hammock, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

More Everglades:

Once much larger, these ancient sub-tropical forests serve many important purposes in the Everglades. Hardwood hammocks develop on slightly higher ground that floods infrequently.  A little rise in elevation can support the growth of a mature hardwood forest including royal palm, cabbage palm, live oak, gumbo limbo, mahogany and oak.

The hardwood hammocks provide homes to most of the Everglades mammals, who find shelter in their branches and roots. The tree leaves form a dense canopy which shades the forest floor and provids relief from the relentless tropical sun from the sun during the hotest part of the day.  Reptiles and birds, too, call the hammocks home.

The hammocks are damp, and ferns and air plants thrive in their moisture-laden air, and rare native orchids multipy and bloom.  The tree roots and leaves prevented erosion, and help remove pollutants from the water.  

Sloughs, rhymes with blues! Daily painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

I'm continuing another week or so with my Everglades story: 

As seasonal rainfall accumulates in the lake region, water overflows onto the prairies and begins a long slow journey to the gulf.  Over time, sloughs have formed.  Sloughs (rhymes with blue) are marshy channels, dotted with tree islands.  Some are quite deep and will hold life-sustaining water throughout the year.

Because of the water flowing around them, the tree islands have developed into teardrop or lozenge shape, formed by the water flow.  Usually smaller than the hardwood hammock forests, they provide nesting sites for birds and shade and protection to species that feed on the open prairie.

Recent excavations show that the tree islands may have developed on discarded refuse from ancient human habitation, and the others have formed from an uprise in the limestone.  

FYI:
I've got a few of the daily paintings left over from 2008 &9.  They'll be on special for $50, no frame or free shipping, in the studio till the end of the month.  If you're away and see one you like, you can email me. 

Summer Newsletter, Friends of Mine daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Friends of Mine, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

Summer Newsletter out today!

Seasons, What's in the Water, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

What's in the Water, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

Mindful of the movement of the sun creating the familiar seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall, life in the Everglades revolves around just two seasons, the wet and the dry.

From June until November heavy afternoon rains soak the marshes, flood the prairies, and fill the aquifers. Humidity of over 90% and temperatures in the 90s are common. These hot, wet conditions bring significant changes to the Everglades landscape. Animals, dependent on water holes in the dry season begin to disperse. Plants begin a cycle of re-growth. Mosquitoes and other insects increase in great numbers, and fish spawn and flourish.

Everglade skies grow quiet as the wet season gives way to the dry.There's less threat of rain, the water retreats, and the lush greens of summer turn to gold and then into grays as the grasses dry. Migrating birds return and fish, frogs, and other creatures of the Everglades seek out the holes that alligators have enhance to find enough moisture to keep them alive.Fire danger increases.

Human, following a path centuries olds and looking for relief from frigid northern winters,  migrate south to enjoy the climate.  Native Everglade plants and animals go into survival mode until the life-giving rains begin again,.  

Early Evening, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Early Evening, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 7"x5"

Winding southward from Orlando, the Florida landscape flattens and slopes gently into a broad marshy swath known as the Everglades.  Various sources attribute the name as coming from Native Americans who called it Pa-hay-Okee, ttranslating into "grassy waters," from the Latin word “glades” as beautiful, or the old English for “a grassy place.”  Supporter of its preservation, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, called it “river of grass.”

The Everglades is all of these things, and more.  Response to the place varies widely.  Some say it’s a miserable place, full of bugs and snakes and dark secrets.  Others know it for its magnificent sunsets, mysterious wetlands, and exotic wildlife.  The world has recognized the importance of the Everglades and named it a World Heritage Site.  

In addition to serving as one of our world’s important natural purifying and providing systems, the land supports many species of flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world.  Over 60 endangered or threatened species call the Everglades home, and its glades and dells host a multitude of orchids, some found nowhere else in the world.

The Everglades environment is made up of a complex system of interdependent habitats.  They include cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, open prairies, deep water sloughs, and deep mangrove fringes sloping gently into the marine environment of the Florida Bay.

This is the landscape that has become my inspiration and my muse.   I'll write more about the Everglades in the next few weeks.  Some of it will be revised information that I've written before, and some will be new.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks!

Game On, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 8"x10, "

Somehow the palette knife brings out the sailor in me. 

There is nothing more peaceful than a boat under sail with a light wind and blue sky.  Those moments are priceless, but all too few on the open sea. 

I've only raced once, and found the nearness of so many other boats racing across the surf to the same mark a bit unnerving. 

Still, sometimes  a little competiion brings out the best in us.

Art Collectors, End of the Day daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

End of the Day, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

 

Artists love someone who purchases original art and brings it into their home to be displayed, viewed and enjoyed.  A few years ago only one percent of the American population purchased original art.  That may be changing as more people find and purchase affordable original art over the Internet.  Still, only a small portion of our population knows and values original art.

Artists hope that once a person owns a piece of original art, they will become a collector. A collector is someone who completes the circle of art for the artist.  Because they value what the artist has created, and purchase it, the painting has done its job and touched someone. 

That artwork drew someone in, pleased them, made them think, or caused them to remember.  This, for most artists, completes a circle.  It supports us and allows us to continue, too!  Sometimes a collector wants to know more about the process or inspiration of the artist.  Other collectors have no interest in anything but the artwork.

A true collector chooses works thoughtfully, and for more reasons than the colors of a piece match their current sofa.  A collector knows their own taste, and knows that the work they choose will fit into their space and their life and live happily there.  They will purchase directly from an artist, or from a gallery they can trust.  They know that the artwork they chose needs to withstand the test of time and they want to ensure good craftsmanship and good quality

At the end of the day, a collector knows that the journey of discovering and collecting art can be as creative as the work of the artists who create and that their collection will bring them lifelong pleasure.  If you’re reading this, you may be one of mine! 

Happy Independence Day, USA

Beach!  Family Reunions!  Parades!  Picnics! Concerts!

 Boating!  Baseball Games!  Barbecues!  Fireworks!

However you celebrate, Happy Independence Day! 

Carrots Daily Painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Carrots, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

Paul Cezanne once said “The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed (in a painting), will set off a revolution.” He was right!  The daily painting movement has started a revolution in the way art is created and marketed today.  You can see some of the daily painted carrots here, here, and here!  There's even a carrot coloring page you can print (scroll down) for you here if you want to color your own! 

The Painting a Day movement began in the United States in early 2004 and quickly spread around the globe.  Using the public domain of the internet, artists are able to interact directly with the viewer changing the traditional way of marketing fine art through galleries.  In addition, artists who traditionally worked alone are able to interact with their contemporaries around the world and share techniques, ideas, and camaraderie through technology.

The daily paintings of many of these artists are some of the finest representational work being done today.  The work has become very collectible, being appealing in quality and subject as well as price to a wide range of art collectors who want to own original art.

Sometimes it's nice to vary a little from the Everglades!  I paint nearly every day and post new, small daily paintings on the internet three times a week.  I’m pleased to be recognized as a member of this group.  Have a great weekend!