Light in the Sky, 11 x 14, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 

Peonies, 2015, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

Coming from New England, it was a pleasure to see all the late spring- early summer flowers in full bloom on my recent trip to visit family and celebrate family milestones.  Peonies just won't grow as far south as Marco Island.  

Yes, the blog seems to have corrected it's problems, and I'm going to give it another try!  If your situation has changed and you only want a once-a-month email, please sign up at my website, here, and unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.

You'll be hearing from me once or twice a week.  Thanks for sticking around. I've missed you!

Invite to a Hoot!

It's A Hoot! 

You’re Invited!  

Studio of  Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn 

At the Esplanade, 760 N.Collier, Marco Island

Friday, February 20th

 5:30—7:00

Refreshments will be served 

Olive Oil

 Taste, experience, and learn about various Olive Oils with expert Michael Bohn

And

Owlivia 

Meet author Dr. Dolores Burton and illustrator, Jo-Ann Sanborn and have your copy of

But You Don’t Look Like Me! personalized!

Art Pricing, Magical Forms, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Magical Forms,  2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 7x5

 

Some of you may wonder how artists price their work.  I don't know about others, but will tell you my process.  I reassess my pricing structure about once a year.  First, I look at other artists who are in about the same point in our careers.  For me, these are regional artists who have attained some national recognition, have done things like win prizes in national shows, received invitational requests from outside their area, have a proven business model through steady increases over the years, and have a recognizable style.  These are my competition.

 

I price my paintings by size.  It makes sense to me and takes the emotion out of the equation.   However if I think a painting may win a prize, or want to save it for an exhibition, I may put a higher price on it.  

 

My best value, original work Everglades paintings are $150.  It's a great starting price for original work, and both new collectors and island visitors love these small 5"x7" pieces in terrific gold frames.  Mostly done in acrylic, I'm starting to work these in oils as well.  You can see them as a group in my Daily Paintworks gallery.  I love having a very affordable option for you, so won't change the prices on these.  That's been decided. 

 

I have more work to do in the reassessment, thought.  Since I don't do prints or copies, and offer just original work, next I look at what I have on hand, and what has sold over the past year.  If I've very little inventory and sales are very strong, I'll raise prices about 10% on either my smaller paintings or my on larger ones, but never both in the same year.  

 

But I'm concerned about the effects of a difficult economy had haven't raised prices lately.  Time to take a look and see what's new in the market!

Mangroves, and Shell, a daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Shell, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

oil on board, 5"x7"

 

 

Marco Island has one of the best shelling beaches in the nation.  You can walk along our beautiful beach any low tide and find something special to pick up and bring home.  If you are fortunate enough to have a boat or a friend with a boat, there are a number of deserted island--approximately 10,000 of them available for you to explore.   

 

A number of these little islands have a nice sandy beach for you to walk as you look for shells, but some of them have mangrove plants right down to the waterline.  The mangrove fringes are critical  for protecting the land masses by mitigating the force of hurricanes and storms. 

 

Because most mangroves grow in tidal areas, their many roots trap detritus and debris, providing nutrients for a wide variety of organisms, so the areas around them are usually teeming with life.  If you'd like to know more about mangroves and our environment, there's a good article with some photos here.

 

And please remember, it's illegal to take live shells.  Let 'em live! 

 

 

Edgy, painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Edgy, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 20x24

 

 

Back to my precious Everglades.  Today's painting is one I started a while ago and was just begging to be finished.  I especially enjoy the small mangroves, just getting a foothold along the edge of a new location.  They seem so vulnerable when starting out, just little sprouts struggling to survive.

 

Wading birds congregate around the mangroves to feed and to nest during the dry months.  During the wet summer months, mangroves defend the shorelines against the howling winds and storm surge of hurricanes.  

Open House, and Edge of a Woodland, painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Edge of a Woodland, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 20"x24"

 

 

Come Along!

Four Stake Prairie Paintings

An Evening of Art

 

Sunshine Studios Open House

at the Esplanade, Marco Island

in conjunction with The Artist Gallery

 

Thursday, March 21, 5-7 p.m. 

Refreshments! 

 

 

This is the sixth of the Four Stake Prairie Paintings.  Edge of a Woodland features the intriguing Everglades bald cypress during their relatively short leafless period.  When the light is just right, my painting genes quiver and I want to express their unique character with paint on canvas. 

 

I was hoping to get back to the Prairie after the spring rain we had, and see the Bald Cypress sprouting their first little bits of green, but it was not to be.  My first miserable cold in years made it impossible for me to inflict my germs on others.  Now the trees are in almost full green, and you won't see anything like the above painting until a lucky day next winter! 

 

You will be able to see all seven of the Four Stake paintings together  at my studio gallery for an open house event in conjunction with the new Artist's Gallery right around the corner, An Evening of Art.  Three of the paintings have already sold, but the owners have graciously allowed me to borrow them, so it will be the only time to see them all together. Hope you can come! 



Beach Club by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Beach Club, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 36x48

 

 

November was a busy month, and with several commissions to do, I neglected a few things. I'm playing catch-up in what is already a busy season. 

 

 

Today's painting, Beach Club, was painted at the request of my daughter who loves the tall palms I sometimes paint. 

 

Glorious, a commission, has been installed in a beautiful dining room in Cape Marco. 

 

 Glorious, 2012, jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 36x48

 



Everglades Breeze, another commission, was supposed to go into a hallway, but the owners were so pleased with it they hung it where they could pass by it more often.

 

 

Everglades Breeze, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 16x20

 

Dawning won an honorable mention in the NAWA-FL show Image Makers. Dawning is part of the Channel series that has deep and personal meaning for me.  To have one of them recognized is especially rewarding.  Happy Birthday, dear.   

 

Dawning, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 11x14

 

It's been almost two weeks since I've been out to the Everglades.  If you don't show up then you miss the magic that unfolds when you least expect it.  I need to get out there and see what's new and what's happening.  Sometimes something passed a million times goes unnoticed until it is ready to take center stage. If you're not there, you miss it.   

 

Truth, not flair, is what my painting is all about, and I'll make a  point of going out this weekend to see what's going on. Then I will take great pleasure in sharing it with you in a painting!  

Computer Woes, Flowing Gently By painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Flowing Gently By, (c) 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 20x24

Sold

Today's Everglades painting reminds me why I love what I do. The Everglades is a magical and special place, and I'm very grateful to be painting its beauty on a daily basis. Looking at this painting is calming, and the gentle trickle of the softly gurgling water can lower the blood pressure!   This one was sold before it left the easel, and will go to the home of a dear collector as soon as I can get it framed. 

It has been an incredibly crazy week.  I was followed around by a little black rain cloud, which continued to rain down additional stormy challenges on a daily basis.  Finally it got so bad it became humorous, which helped to put everything into perspective.  The least of it was eight days without a computer.  The fate of much of my data is still unknown, and everything is newly different. Moan.

Thanks to all of you who responded positively to the new format for my newsletter, fortunately already scheduled when the computer troubles started.  You were overwhelming in support of the new format.  Those of you who read my newsletter are very special to me and I'll be announcing the winner of the drawing for a daily painting soon.  If you don't yet get my newsletter, you can sign up here. 

You've probably noticed the new Daily Paintworks gadget just under my photo on the blog, and hope you will visit my gallery.  If you get the blog in your mailbox you won't see the gadget, but can go to the gallery here. 

  

A Different Light painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

A Different Light, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 36"x24"

In speaking to a potential customer at the studio recently, we spoke about the fact that I've been painting the Everglades for almost 20 years.  I tried to explain the draw and pull of the ancient landscape, and how it's beauty and it's many personalities provide abundant opportunities for inspiration. 

Today, reading a article about Maine artist Connie Hayes, made me think about this on a deeper level.  Her quote  "The more beautiful a subject matter the harder it is to probe it's power" helps express what I was trying to say.

My work in the Everglades is more than just an attempt to portray the subtle layering of color in the pastel morning sky, or the thrusting urgency of a palm struggling to survive in a soil singularly lacking in sustenance. 

Each time I pick up my brush is an attempt to forge a deep connection with the underlying natural world of the place that inspired me.  The Everglades landscape is a world humans have exploited and misused for years, but we are ultimately responsible for.  I want you to see more than just a painting, but into the heart and soul of the landscape as well.

It's a lofty goal.  I may never achieve it fully, but trying's the thing.

If you are Christian, I'm wishing you a joyous and uplifting Easter!

Gift of Flowers daily painting by painter Jo-Ann Sanborn

Gift of Flowers, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

Artist Mary Sheehan Winn  and I have known each other's work for some time, and keep in touch via the Internet.  Mary's a snowbird, and we're both pretty busy in season, so it took some time to find a space to visit. 

We decided on a little painting in the studio, and a nice lunch.  Perfect!  

Mary walked in with some cheerful sunflowers for me, and I had a couple of my first, fragrant gardenia's for her.  In  a couple of hours each had a painting going -- flowers, of course. 

We decided that it was easy and fun to paint in the studio, but we really want to get out into the Everglades before she leaves for the summer.  It's a plan, Mary! 

Looking for Answers, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Looking for Answers, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

A huge and humble THANK YOU to all who supported Bob with the PSP walk on Saturday.  What a fantastic group! 

We were honored by your showing up and your caring.  Some of you went the extra mile to help us get there and get home or provided support in other, special ways.  Some of you who couldn't come or walk made donations, or sent us words of kindness from your heart.

Bob and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for your time, your help, your prayers, your money, but most of all for showing up and for caring!   Your support will help provide some answers and lead the way to a cure for this awful disease.  Each of you will always have a special place in our hearts. 

Don't worry.  This won't become a PSP blog.  Next post will be back to the artist's part of my journey!    

The Moon goes for a Swim, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

The Moon goes for a Swim, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 24"x48"

Due to family circumstances beyond my control my time is not always my own, and sometimes a day does not go at all as I had envisioned.  As a result, I was getting a little low on inventory, and haven't been very faithful to my three times a week daily paintings lately.  I had three or four half finished larger Everglades paintings that needed attention, and a commission I've been neglecting, too.  

Right in the middle of telling myself to buckle down and get something finished, I awoke early one morning, looked out my back door--where I usually go for a bit of fresh air to see what the day smells like--well, really to greet the day, I suppose, and saw something most unusual.

From my vantage point the nearby homes were still in darkness.  Stars were sparkling in the sky and the dawn was just beginning to lighten the morning.  I knew the moon must be large, but couldn't see it from where I stood.  There was a slight breeze was ruffling the water, and then, to my absolute delight and surprise, I saw the silvery white moon taking a dip in my canal.  Backstroking! 

I couldn't wait to get to the studio to begin to paint this marvelous scene.  It's my habit to have a good supply of canvases of all sizes on hand and prepared and I was glad to find a large canvas just right for my subject.  The paint flew from my brushes onto the canvas.  About a week later and after several layers of softening glazes,  I stood back and said "done."

Now to get back to what I was doing before the moon turned my head.

Painting Supports, Edge of a Prairie by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Edge of a Prairie, 2012

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

Artists use a variety of supports for their paintings.  I most often use stretched canvas for medium to large paintings.  I order it already stretched.  It comes medium weave canvas, tightly stretched, is most often double or tripled primed.  When an order comes I open it, prime again if necessary, and tone all the canvases.  I almost always have  have a nice supply of sizes ready to paint.

Canvas or linen on board is the choice for my smaller, daily paintings.  Since my favorite supplier is no longer making the panels I prefer, I'm trying out a variety of others, and finding surfaces that work for me. 

For my recent Snowmen project I used gesso board.  It's much smoother than a canvas, but I enjoyed how it grabbed the paint and gave me a nice resistance with dry brush. I'll try a few larger paintings on it, too.   

Linen is a wonderful fiber, but I've found that the stretched linen sags too much for my vigorous painting methods.  Recently I've tried linen on board, and loved it, and will use it more in the future. 

I've also been trying a variety of hard boards.  Someone recently questioned me about what board means, and about its quality.  I want to make it clear that when I say "board" I paint on quality material of archival quality.  It's definitely NOT the cardboard panels often used for student work! 

Archival quality board is often an actual board, like birch, but more often is a composite of wood, which won't warp easily.  Archival means that nothing in the  making of the board will leach into or onto the surface or back of my painting.  It's protected and will withstand the test of time. 

Lovely hardboards, linen boards, and gessoboards can easily be purchased at any online artist supply store.  Try something new and let me know your favorites!

Support for the Arts, Autumn Grasses painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Autumn Grasses, 2011 © Jo-Ann Sanborn

Acrylic on Canvas, 18"x24

Sometimes a painting that you think is done isn't.  This is one I showed a couple of weeks ago and then went back in and tightened up.  You can see the older vision here.

Last year the City of Marco Island presented the lovely FLAME awards to people who  excelled in encouraging the arts in our community. Tonight I'll speak to the Marco Island City Council to again ask for support for the awards and to tell them of a new project the Arts Advisory Committee would like to present to the public. 

 Even thought our City funds parks, recreation, and beautification, and has a huge capital program, funding for the arts is a struggle! In this tight economy, it's uncertain whether support for the arts, even a small amount, will be granted.

Our growing City needs more than a beach.  We know by now that the arts enrich our community.  We also know that the arts bring money to a community by providing jobs and exciting things to do, and that cultural tourists who visit spend more and stay longer in an arts community.  The arts help our housing market since people what to live where there are arts opportunities

.

A few years ago a poll of the people on Marco showed a clear majority would pay a dollar to two a year for the arts.  Funding for the FLAME award is under a nickel per person a year!
 

Let's ensure that the arts are alive and well on Marco Island.  If you live on Marco, give your Council person a call or a quick email and ask them to support the arts on Marco by recognizing those who do the work with a FLAME award.  Thanks! 

My class "Color Mixing" starts today, and I'll teach "Light and the Florida Landscape" next month.  Both will be taught at the Marco Island Center for the Arts. 

Affected or Infected? Homer's boat, painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Homer's Boat

How do you find that personal creative place inside yourself when you approach an empty canvas?  Once you know what you want the subject to be, how do you find that place deep inside that allows you to interpret it your own way? What can you learn from others to make it happen? 

Looking at the work of others to see how they might have interpreted a subject and trying their techniques, copying the work of master painters is all a part of the process of growing as an artist.  So is taking workshops from established artists to learn new ideas and methods of working.   

Doing, and reading, doing, and studying, doing, and experimenting is really what ensures you'll develop your own artistic voice.  All said, it's mostly in the doing, and doing again. 

There’s a fine line between what’s really yours and what really belongs to someone else. While you can learn from imitation, continually feeding off another's creativity will sap your energy like an infection.

I've been playing with the palette knife, and looking at any number of boat paintings.  Today's painting most assuredly has become Homer's Boat.

Daily Chores, Passage painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

 

Passage, Jo-Ann Sanborn, 2010

Acrylic on canvas, 20x24

What are the daily chores of a landscape artist?  What do we do to fill each day? 

Observe

Observe the landscape to do a great job of painting it.  Usually you look closely at the scene in front of you in order to begin finding the essence of the landscape you are about to paint.  For me this is most often the Everglades. 

 

Other times observations come upon you in a quiet moment.  As you sip your morning coffee, just for a few moments the sky turns a remarkable shade of pink as the sun peeks over the horizon.  If you weren't observing, you'd miss it.  Let it wash over you, feel it, and it will bring depth to your painting that day, or show up in a later painting. 

 

Contemplate

Thinking about the things you've seen takes a mind free of the other obligations of life, even if just for a while.  The artist needs some time each day just to contemplate what you've seen, what you've heard, and what you've read.  Those things combined, and your reaction to them, are what make you who you are as a painter.  The thinking time will show in your work.

 

Generate

Generating art is what you're all about.  It the most important thing you do as an artist, because without painting you'll lose the essence of what you saw and what you thought about it.  Painting often builds skill and inventory.  Paint often and regularly!

 

Connect

Connecting is a vital part of being an artist.  First comes connecting with family and friends.  Don't neglect this just because they'll forgive you.  You'll find that you need this in varying amounts. 

 

Today, connecting with the outside world is easy and vital.   Join your local Art League, visit an art show, write a blog, try Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or join an online artist forum. 

 

It might seem that observing, contemplating, generating and connecting can make for a pretty full day.  Yep! 

 

Thanks to Chris Brogan for the idea for today's post.

Why the Glades? Waterway painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Waterway, 2010, J Sanborn
acrylic on Canvas 24"X24"

When life changes dictated a move to Florida, I wasn't sure how I'd adapt. Everthing was different from my New England hometown. Soon after arriving and on a drive to get oriented, I fell in love the Everglades landscape. It's been almost 18 years now and I'm still excited to pick up my paintbrush each day and see what the landscape will reveal.

The Everglades are defined as the land south of Orlando in the middle of the peninsular of Florida. Water from Lake Okeechobee, summer rains and hurricanes form a shallow river that moves very slowly across the landscape to the estuaries and mangrove fringes on the southern coasts.

The land is filled with bold shapes and forms. Palms thrust upward when their roots can get a footing just a few inches about the prairies. Knife sharp sawgrasses form islands of foliage that sway together in light breezes. Deciduous bald cypress trees are ghostly in the winter's evening light and delightfully playful in spring greens. And the water is everywhere, sometimes only an inch or two, and other times remaining in deep life-sustaining sloughs during dry spells.

In the summer wet season the skies are filled with gorgeous billowing clouds as storms build throughout the day. Torrential rains drench the parched landscape by late afternoon. Sometimes the humidity is so think the air practically shimmers with it, and the sunrises and sunsets are almost always spectacular.

In the winter dry season, the grasses dry to lovely soft lavenders as summer's abundant foliage dehydrates and the landscape dries. The skies are every blue in your paint box and fill with puffy afternoon clouds and the light dances in each breeze and is thick and rich and yellow.

The light is magical as it plays among the brash forms and varying colors of this exotic landscape. When you look closer even the small things amaze and delight. If you're quiet and looking for it, there's also the spiritual peace sometimes found in uninhabited places. Places that should be revered rather than destroyed.

As a painter the Everglades landscape provides me with endless inspiration. As a human, I'm concerned about the many threats to this ancient land. It's my hope that my paintings will help you to see it through different eyes, and want to preserve and protect it, too.

Summer Magic, Stormy, painting by Everglades artist JoAnn Sanborn

Stormy, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 16x20

Sold

After years of painting out a couple of times a week, last winter's cold and this summer's heat, and now the rain, have curtailed my twice a week visits to the Everglades. I'm starting more paintings in the studio. That's not necessarily a bad think. I know the Everglades well enough to do them justice, and my work is improving as I concentrate on the content.

Still, I love the dramatic summer light of South Florida. The light is fantastic almost every day, with rich golds and greens everywhere. The increased rain is life giving for both the plants and the animals.

Early in the day the clouds begin to billow upwards, culminating in fierce storms later in the day. Around the storms spots of sun and shadow create unforgettable drama. I miss going out to paint, and I will while I can, because despite the joys of studio work, outside is where the magic is.

See you Wed., 5-8 at the Last Wednesday Art Walk at the Artist Colony on Marco Island.

Almost a year, 2nd of September, painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

2nd of September, Jo-Ann Sanborn
acrylic on canvas, 36"x48

This is a painting I though I finished a year ago. I often do paintings of elongated palms in the late summer. There's something about the misguided hurricane cut, the wind, their strength against the landscape and the threat of storms that makes them seem larger than life to me this time of year. These paintings are often more about vertical and horizontal planes than my other paintings, and often come easily, inpired by a clump of palms against the sky.

But something was wrong with this painting. I applied my "critique" criteria to it, and couldn't quite tell what the problem was. It hung around the studio. behind the door, at the bottom of the stack, and I never promoted it's sale--I just couldn't in good faith.

I liked the upright palm design--I always seem to like that--and the clouds, but as hard as it was I finally figured out that I had to lower the horizon. Had to lighten it's value, too, to get it to sit back where it belonged. And I had to add some design to the clouds, too, so that they had the movement of a breezy day and were more alive and lifelike.

For two days I worked hard. It's a large painting, and I struggled to use enough paint to move it across the surface, and find in painting larger, the intuitiveness harder, too, because the eye can't take it all in at once. I left the palms, and worked around them, building, covering, recovering.

When I came into the studio on the third day and got ready to set to work, I found that the painting had somehow miraculously come together, and was done. There's a nice breezyness and a soft pink in the clouds. The horizon sits back where it belongs, much lower and lighter in value, and the trees are vertical but don't overwhelm the rest.

It's a much better painting than it was. Even though it took almost a year to figure it out, it was worth it.