Blue, Blue Sky painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Blue, Blue Sky, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas,  20x40

 

 

Blue, Blue Sky is a bit of an Everglades abstraction, but when you see it in context with the other prairie paintings, I think it has a place in the sequence. 



All of my canvases are usually primed with a dark, warm tone. I build a painting starting with a dark toned canvas background and work into the light. The light forms are scumbled in, and then I go back and working the darks again.

 

I do this over and over until I've got the forms built and the negative shapes working in a way that balances and works compositionally. Usually it's quite late in a painting that I start on the details.

 

Blue, blue sky was built in just this way.  I love how the sky seems to have volume of its own from the layers of blue, and how the palm forms seem like family on a journey.  What do you see?  

Growing up by the Water, painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Growing Up by the Water, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 24"x30"

 



Born in Gloucester, Mass, I grew up by the water.  Everyone in Gloucester does, whether your home is on a waterway or not.  The water, the North Atlantic ocean, the river and broad marshes can be seen from every rise in the land.  Most of the residents walk the beach, the back shore, the Boulevard or some other outdoor area frequently.  Most celebrations in Gloucester are centered on the water and many of the inhabitants derive their living from the sea or in some related area. 

Growing up by the water in Florida is a little different.  The water in the Everglades is slow moving and filled with alarming creatures, at least if you are from New England you think they are alarming.  (To me an alligator is much more alarming than, say, a seal.)  The moods of the water are different, too, and so is the light. 

I've painted this mangrove several times over the last 20 years.  It started out very small, but has grown, and now has a shy baby of it's own.