Gator Passage, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Gator Passage

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

The Everglades landscape is made up of such simple and ancient elements of the earth.  Palms, water, prairies, and sky comprise almost every view.  It should be simple to paint, especially after years of looking and learning about the environment. 

But nature isn't simple.  All of those elements are continually being redefined by the movement of the sun through the sky, the wind on any given day, various reflections, the movement of clouds as the day progresses, and any combinations of the elements.

Painting the magic of the Everglades is still a challenge for me, and although I've been experimenting a bit with other mediums and other ways of applying paint, I expect to find challenges in painting the Everglades landscape for quite a while yet.