Quiet Sundown, daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Quiet Sundown, 2015, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 8"x 8"

Today's painting is the companion piece to the one shown here.  They are framed alike and would make a nice pair.  

I thought you might like to know how I spend a typical day at the Esplanade.  I'm there every Wed-Friday, 10-5 and Saturday's until 2.  Usually, I paint most of the day and save the business responsibilities, like bookkeeping, promotion, newsletter, blog, for home, There's also fitting in visits to the Everglades--a necessity for me to keep my ties to nature and painting inspiration strong. 

Yesterday was a typical studio/gallery day.  I started by moving a few things around, to better show some of the work that didn't have the best light.  Despite my best efforts, the light in the studio/gallery remains a challenge!  As I did that,  I realized that I didn't have many paintings in the 20x24 size, and if I started a new one that's the size it should be.  I got out my photos, and decided what to paint, and thought about how what I've seen in nature recently might be incorporated.  

My preference is to work between two or three paintings at a time.  Each stage requires a different type of skill/concentration, and I seem to get the best results by changing from one to another fairly frequently  I pre-coat all my canvases, so always have several ready.  I got to work on a new painting, developing a strong block-out.  My paintings are usually at their best at the early-mid stage, awful in the middle, and then finished up by working to express the same excitement I felt at the beginning. 

When I reached a good stopping point on the new painting, I went back to a painting I had been working on last week.  The second painting has been a struggle from the start.  While it had some nice areas, the whole composition was just  not coming together.  Assessing it again, I saw that the problems were insurmountable, I had lost my direction.  It had to go completely or get a new, stronger start.  As I was covering it with fresh paint, a pattern began to develop and I could see a potential Everglades scene developing.  I had nothing to loose by going along.  A few hours later it still needed more work, but had much more potential than the prior effort. 

That filled the morning and more.  After a late lunch I went back to the first painting I had started this morning.  After working on the morning painting again, I did some framing.  

All this, of course, is working around the people who wander in.  It is, after all, a working studio/gallery so visitors are very much welcome.  In fact I very much enjoy my visitors and am sometimes pleasantly surprised with how well I can paint while distracted!  I'll try to get both paintings up on my Facebook page tomorrow.