Lemon #3, 2014, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 8"x8"

 

 



Sky Thoughts, 2014, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 8"x8"

 

This time of year Mother Nature provides us wonderful cloudscapes, sometimes during the day as the clouds build, and others during the early evening as the sun gets ready for bed.  

 

While I'm appreciative of these fleeting moments of beauty, I gaze at the sky and feel inadequate to interpret its beauty.  Trying to get the luminosity of wondrous light out of the solidity of paints is not an easy task.

NAWA, and Three Green Palms, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

 Three Green Palms, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 8"x8"

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure that that's my painting, hanging in the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery, in New York City.  You can see it if you look very closely on the left in the background.  It's hanging as part of the National Association of Women Artist's 124th Annual Exhibition. Looks like a nice crowd. 

 

 

As a regional painter, it gives me the opportunity to be seen in a wider context.  It forces me to think in broader terms about my art, and to "take myself seriously" when sending a painting into the wider world and into such esteemed company.  I'm honored to be a member of this terrific organization. 

 

You can see more photos from the reception, or like NAWA on Facebook here.  If you live on or near Marco Island, you'll be able to see an exhibition of the Florida Chapter of NAWA at the Art Center of Marco Island in January.  Don't miss it! 

Kemper tool, and By the Water, daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

By the Water, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 8"x8"

 

I'm really enjoying using the oil paints, and have decided to use them on some smaller Everglades paintings until I am more comfortable with them.  It's quite a change from the acrylics, so I have to adjust to the new medium. 

 

One thing that is very different is that with acrylics I cutting in to form a lot of my large masses, and then build them up again, sometimes doing quite a few layers to get just the look I want.  This method is impossible with the oil paints.  I'm trying to learn to mix a color and put a stroke down and leave it, not to mush it around too much.  I like the colors from the layers below peaking through, and it's too easy to cover a nice bit of color if I'm not careful.   

 

Sometime, such as the grasses in By the Water, I've used a Kemper wipe out tool to draw with, helping me find objects in the painting and to define them.  It cuts right through the paint to the layer below, adding texture, and a bit of linear form.  I'm also using it to sign my oil works, right into the wet paint!