Taking liberties, Spring Celebration by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Spring Celebration, 2012, Jo-Ann Sanborn

acrylic on canvas, 20"x24"

When a landscape artist sets up on location, there's the whole big view to consider.   Everything within sight is fair game for adding to a painting.  To make it all fit on a canvas is no easy task. 

In addition, the sun moves through the sky.  Light changes, clouds come and go as the day progresses, and if we're not careful, we'll end up chasing shadows with our paint.

So we're forced from the start to make choices. What to install in a painting, and what to leave out can be the artist's choice alone.  

Unlike the portrait painter who must please their subject, a landscape artist is unlikely to hear from the subjects that "it's  not a good likeness." 

As long as we retain a "sense of place", we can choose to highlight certain features, push the color, or leave out a less desirable tree.  If we decide to take liberties with the colors or the placement, or leave something out completely, who's to complain?

Natural Light, Daily Painting by Jo-Ann Sanborn

The light was fantastic as we drove back from Tampa at dusk Tuesday night. The billowy clouds piled up low in the sky and the late day sun raked the landscape making strong contrast between bright and shadow areas. Without a bit of rain we saw a beautiful rainbow and got a picture of it from the car window. In some areas there was a wide variety of cloud types and the light coming through would highlight aspects of the landscape. We're used to unusual light down here on the southernmost peninsula, but this was spectacular and a fitting end to day filled with both goodbyes and renewal. The changing light made the trip go quickly and the drive easy, and we were home by dark.

Certainly the memory of that light had a part in the inspiration for today's painting. I'll work on it a little more before this painting is ready to be adopted. (Oh, horrors, daily painters!) Do you have a favorite natural light show stored in your memory? If not, just step outside at sunset some evening and see what nature offers.

Natural Light

5x7

Sold

Verticals & Red

One of my daughters tells me that my Everglades work is all about a balance of verticals and horizontals. It's very possible that she's right! The upright palms against almost any vertical background continue to interest me. When I come across them, whether a group, a clump, or a line, I am compelled to explore the scene further in a painting. Sometimes it's about trying to get the most distance possible out of the scene. Sometimes it's about a balance of color or light. In this painting it's about getting past the confrontational aspects of the landscape and into it's heart.
Several of my paintings have been selected by curator Jack O'Brien into a show called Florida Naturally at Physician's Regional Medical Center on Pine Ridge Road. My work is the soft counterpoint to a number of landscape photographs. If you love the Florida landscape you'll enjoy the show. Stop by before August 20. They have a wonderful cafeteria if you're out for lunch!

Verticals & Red
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
acrylic on canvas
$150 plus $12 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Salon De Garage

Salon de Garage was a lot of fun on Saturday. Clients who wanted a special piece or a bargain came early. Thanks to you all, with special thanks to the Tribilcocks who picked up four pieces for home-building children. Lucky kids! Each artist got about 10" of space floor to ceiling, and you can see Joan Dunkle's gorgeous work off to the right in the first picture. At the end of the day I traded paintings with Joann Lizio O'Brien for an early piece of hers that will fit nicely into the plans I have for our bedroom, and picked up a great little beaded, mosaic "Joy" from emerging artist Angela Brown. Angela's work centers on nature and the fairy realm, and she's also a healer. You can see more of her work and learn more about her art here. Many of the paintings you see in today's pictures have found homes, but I still have a few pieces available for adoption. I'll keep the sale opened until Wednesday.