Palm #3 daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Palm #3, 2017, Jo-Ann Sanborn

Acrylic on cradled board, 4" x 4"

Another palm.  These small paintings are fun to do on cradled board.  It's a multi-layered process, first covering the block with a textured gel, then doing an abstract color layer, then finding the palm in the paint, sometimes completely changing the background, and finally the highlights. 

They can be hung just on a push pin or set on an easel.  You can find a small spot, maybe half hidden, like on the wall under a lampshade.  Every time you turn on the light, you will get the delight of finding a little gem.   

Family Matters, daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Family Matters, 2017, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 6"x6"

A Few Flowers, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

A Few Flowers, 2017, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 7'x5"

Prairie Friends, Daily Painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Prairie Friends, 2017, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

Fanciful Flowers, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Fanciful Flowers, 2017, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

News! Early Morning Light, an Everglades Painting by Jo-Ann Sanborn

Early Morning Light

11x14, 2017

On May 1, 2017, I closed my studio/gallery at the Esplanade, and am choosing to work out of my home studio for a while.  This will give me more time to paint, more time to visit the Everglades - the source of my inspiration for painting - and more time to do some artistic exploration..

I'll still be self-representing, but am changing my business model.  Blogging will most likely have a place, with the goal of posting a daily painting often.  Sometimes I will have something to say, other times you'll just get a painting.

If you are getting this email, you will be getting a new post with a painting in your mail box more frequently. There will be a link to my website where the painting will be for sale. 

My blog is independent of my once-a-month newsletter, which will still be my main way of communicating with you.  You can reach both the blog and my past newsletters from my website, here. 

There is an unsubscribe notice at the end of both the blog and my newsletter in case you no longer wish to receive mail from me. 

Please forward to anyone you know who might be interested in having a painting in their mailbox.  More to come - later! 
Jo-Ann
 

Classes and more! Daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

 Floral, 2015, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7" x 5"

If we haven't spoken via newsletter, email, or social media, Happy New Year! I'm going with hope rather than despair, since it's so much more satisfying!     

It's been a busy time with the increase in traffic and the studio now open six days a week from New Years to Easter.  I've been slow to blog, spending more time on social media.  You can read my January newsletter on my website, and sign up  to receive it once a  month if you want. 

I will teach a three day workshop at the Art Center in March and hope to see you there.  More information here.  

In the meantime, at the request of visiting artists, I've been teaching at the Esplanade studio on Monday mornings.  The classes are structured with a single subject each week so you can take just one, or keep coming for as long as you are able. January's subject is the landscape. We'll paint "water" next Monday. Come along!  February will be all about color. There's a new "page" at the top of the blog with more information. 

You will hear from me from time to time here on this blog, and I may start posting the daily paintings again.  We'll see!  

Thoughts on painting, and Palms by a Wave, daily paintiing by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Palms by a wave, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 5"x7"

 



Some thoughts on painting:

 

Every painting needs a reason for being.  This reason must go beyond a basic representation, no matter how good the representation.

Every painting should be a unique and individual translation of what the artist sees, feels, believes. 
Every painting should communicate something greater than the thing represented to the viewer.  

Every painting should contain some "secret sauce", or, in other words, some "wow"? 

A good idea will transcend the skill of the artist. 

I believe these things, and try to put them into every painting.  That said, the reality of making something unique and personal every day is not easy.  For sure, every painting is not a winner.  I just hope that I am able to tell the difference between a keeper and one that needs additional attention.

May all of you who are painting today, or doing some other creative endeavor, have much good success.  

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?  

Exposed, daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Exposed, 2013, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on board, 7"x5"

 

 

I'm thinking about the paintings of Four Stakes Prairie in ways that are different that I've thought before. I'm searching deeper, wondering more, and the brush strokes feel different. It's a bit frightening, but I'm going with it. Where? I'm not sure yet.

 

Transitions set us on edge, force us to look at things differently, confront, and even change our understanding of things we took for granted the day before.  We're suddenly in unfamiliar territory. We feel uncovered and uncertain. 

Exposure to new ways of thinking about a problem, new untried materials, or unplanned results in our work may put us on a new and different path.  There will be many fits and starts, and deep holes and dark corners that we can't yet see around.

  

As an artist  I believe our obligation is to challenge the paths presented to us with enthusiasm, with courage and excitement.  Some of these paths may dead-end, others will open us into a whole new world. 

 

Don't forget the Marco Island Art Center's monthly reception tomorrow, Tuesday night.  The gallery show is "Forme du la Femme" for you to ponder.  5:30-7:30.   

 

 

 

Everglades Maples change color

People say that the Everglades have no seasons, but if you are watching, you will notice the changes. We have the wet and the dry.  If you are a snowbird, you may not experience the wet.  In addition, the plants here respond to the changes in light making subtle differences between winter, spring, summer and fall. 

The maples (Acer rubum), have turned and are red against the green backdrop of much of the Everglades landscape.  The change in color must be triggered by the light rather than cold, because it's still quite warm here.  It may be nothing like the glamorous glory of a sparkling day in New England, but it's still rather nice. 

 

 

Breaking Up is Hard to do, and Separation, daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Separation, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on archival board, 5"x7"

 

Very sorry for the glare on today's Everglades painting.  I forgot to photograph before finishing with a gloss varnish, and now it won't photograph properly. 

 

Breaking up is hard to do.  Most relationships in your life will at sometime point come to an end. Sometimes this happens naturally as you move on either in person or in spirit.  Sometimes it is caused by the finality of death, other times it may be a conscious choice.  It most always hurts.

 

I initiated the Artist Colony at the Esplanade three years ago.  We had a great run.  We were fortunate to have had fabulous space in a great location provided to us at very reasonable costs.  By sharing and supporting each other we were able to make it work for all of us.  

 

The artist Colony has always been under a possible threat to vacate.  But new owners have a different view of the space.  It's not charity, and they are far from Marco Island.  They intend to have the space fully rented to paying customers.  It's a tough economy, but they are moving aggressively ahead.  They've rented the spaces, and have asked us to leave by October 1.

 

Under this threat, each Colony member has determined a price they feel they can afford to pay for studio space.  Staying at the Esplanade is not an option for most, not even with sharing.  After weighing, costs, benefits and options,  I've come to a different conclusion.  I like the traffic there, and I'm ready to take a big step, even though the cost of it will be a challenge.

 

So, taking a big breath, reaching deep and taking a giant leap of faith, I've made a difficult but exciting decision to rent space in the Esplanade for myself, for Sunshine Studios of Marco Island,  Jo-Ann Sanborn, Fine Arts Everglades painter.

 

I'll take over the space just to the right of where I am now on October 1 and be opened for business by the middle of the month.  Some artists will find space elsewhere.  Some may band together if they can find donated or affordable space.  Some may decide that making art for sale isn't worth the effort. 

 

Will it be the end of the Artist Colony? Too soon to tell, but I hope not.  I wish my fellow artists the best in finding what's right for them.  Together we were able to add another voice to Marco Island's artistic palette.  It was fun.  Thank you.

In the Thick of It, daily painting by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

In the Thick of It, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on archival board, 7"x5"