Oh, the places we've been and the things that we've seen! My husband and I are just back from a fantastic Mediterranean cruise, traveling with a group of compatible friends. We started with two days in Barcelona, a city filled with outdoor sculpture, exciting architecture and the famous and incredible Gaudi's Unfinished Cathedral. What a sight! Some of the bell towers have just been topped with fruit and look like an ice cream delight. Barcelona is a city we will put on the list for a longer visit in the future. From there the beautiful cruise ship 0Millennium became our home for the next two weeks. From the ship we visited several of Europe's most exciting places, ending with two days in Venice. I'll share some tidbits from our trip, and will be pointing again by tomorrow. As much fun as it was, there's no place like home, and I'm happy to exchange my walking shoes for some comfortable sandals and get back to the painting that I love.

This regal group pf palms reminds me of friends going out together for lunch or dinner, all chatting happily as the the group forms and reforms along the way. I've exaggerated the height of the palms a little to enhance their character. The early morning clouds in the sky are dissipating in the warming morning sun. I'm going to let it sit for a while and may do some color adjusting later.
This will be my last post for a while since we'll be traveling again and leaving our home to relatives displaced by a damaging leak. We're fortunate to have a great group of travel friends, ensuring us the very best of times. I'll have some photos to show when we get back! Have a wonderful month!

Museum of the Everglades staff did a great job of putting out some yummy food for the reception on Saturday, and a number of friends old and new attended. It's easy to make new friends talking about art. Congratulations and thanks to new collectors Michele and Leo Deutsch of Marco Island who purchased "Family" and to Judy & Steve Aldrovondi, who added "Rain is Coming" to their collection of my work. I probably won't get much painting done in the next couple of days. We'll be busy helping family who are coming back from the north tomorrow following a major leak in their condo. What a mess!

The values and color are now working together to enhance landscape in a way I first envisioned. It's softer, lighter, and has more emotion that yesterday's work. Your eye moves around it better and longer, and you don't fall off to the left.
A friend told me yesterday that looking at the landscape paintings and reading my blog "lowers her blood pressure." What a great compliment! I do believe that taking time to enjoy a moment of natural beauty can be deeply satisfying to the soul. Try it!
If you are in the Marco area, I hope you'll join me today at the Museum of Everglades City from 2-4 at the reception for my work. The show will be up for the month of October. And let me know if you are having trouble joining the blog as there seems to be a problem!

One of the most asked questions on the show circuit is "How long did it take you to paint that?" It's a question I dread, and usually try to turn the conversation to why I painted it rather than the length of time it took. Does it speak to you? Do you like the colors? Have you seen a sunset like that? Sometimes you can really be "in the zone" totally focused and the very best painting comes easily. Other times, it's agony and hard work. Today was agony. I spent a couple of hours of working on this small painting. The more I worked the further I got from the original idea. Finally I took it out to the kitchen sink and for a good scrub! It's now closer to the original in feel and composition and ready for a new start.

Congratulations to Ann & Jim Beatty of Illinois, on the addition of "Morning" to their collection.

My husband and I took about twenty paintings to the Museum of the Everglades in Everglades City to hang the upcoming show. The Museum Director graciously lent a hand, and as we hung, Museum staff regaled us with stories of the area. Please join us on Saturday as the Friends of the Museum hold a nice reception on Saturday from 2-4. I'll be there to talk with you about my work. It's about 1/2 hour from Marco and the drive is on the scenic and lovely Tamiami Trail. You'll pass palm hammocks and cypress stands and some wide prairies. If you're fortunate the light will provide much interest as it moves over the landscape. We were happy to see the water at higher levels than the last time we were out. This beautiful palm was standing by itself on the side of the road just begging to be painted as we returned from hanging the show. I didn't have time for a large painting, so this one is a mini. Watch for it on the right if you drive out on Saturday!

First thing in the morning while the coffee is brewing, I walk outside to pick up the newspapers. Venus has been dazzling in the early eastern sky. I've watched it climb higher as the month goes by all too quickly. If you get up early and haven't seen it take a peek. You can't miss it and it's magnificent!

On another subject entirely, you may have had a problem if you have been trying to join this blog to get direct e-mails. I've put back in the unattractive Google logo, and it seems to work now, but if you're having problems just e-mail me directly, I'll add you directly. You should be able to join without opening a Google Account, which isn't anything but the extra step makes some people nervous!

I put a final layer of clear medium on "Setting Sun" yesterday and it will go with me to hang the Museum of Everglades show today. Hope you can join us for the reception on Saturday from 2-4 [m

It was a busy weekend getting ready for the gallery show at the Museum of the Everglades. We'll hang the show on Tuesday. I sorted paintings, touched up frames, made labels, developed the price list, printed handouts, updated my personal information and created a gallery book. I didn't get any new paintings completed, so I'm going to share with you a couple of the oldest paintings that I have photographs of. Here's a very large unfinished still life from the early nineties and an abstract done for my brother in law in the late seventies. Quite a change from my Everglades work!

I'm a Southwest Florida regional painter, and it's my obligaton to introduce you to my version of the landscape, and hope that you will respond to it in a positive way. Sometimes I'm less satisfied with an image on the first go-round and having to dig deeper to get the depth of quality and emotion that I want to show you. This seems to be happening a lot lately. Is it artistic growth or just insecurity? In either case you'll notice that "Storm Light" has changed quite a bit since earlier in the week. The clouds vary in shape now, and the light is more dramatic, with more contrast and a predominance of gold. Now I'm satisfied!

After adjusting the clouds in yesterday's painting I was able to finish this painting as well. You may have seen the beautiful pink-yellow morning a few days ago. The quiet stillness of morning with light on the water brings peace to the soul. This painting will be in the Museum of the Everglades show later this month.

Some people are attuned to dramatic moments of nature, while others are more attuned the actions of people. I can be fascinated to watch ibis eating in a swale or a gorgeous cloud building in the northern sky while these events go totally unnoticed by my husband. But he notices a new walker or runner on our street while I think nothing of it. The drama of changing light as a storm moves through has always fascinated me. It doesn't always come easy in a painting, though, and it took me most of the weekend to get the feeling that I wanted in this painting about a summer storm. Do you like it? Many of you comment by email to a painting you like but do you know you can do it right here, on Comments, below! Others will see your comment but not your name. Either way I love to hear from you! Today I'll be busy making one more pass at Stormlight! The clouds in the background are just too much the same size, and I want to vary them a little more for your interest!

I was gloriously, happily, delightedly out in the Everglades yesterday, and the light was strong and good and there were paintings everywhere waiting to be painted. When the light is "good" the landscape looks lush and inviting and willing to give up it's secrets to an artist. When the light is bad the landscape is flat, without any depth, and not inviting to paint. Luckily that's not often and yesterday was perfect. Driving back, the afternoon clouds put on a beauty pageant for us and we were treated to the sight of an Everglades mink. You can learn more about the Everglades animals at My Everglades Backyard. It's a good site for children, but I learn a lot too!

This dolphin sculpture was donated to the City of Marco Island following a Dolphin Sculpture fundraiser some years ago. It looked as though it had been hit by a car, and was in sad shape as a welcoming committee to City Hall. The City took it to an auto body shop for structural repairs, but she still needed some repainting. Since the artist who originally painted this one is no longer available, I volunteered to do the work. She's recovering well and will get a final touch up this week. Bob and I also painted a dolphin for this fundraiser. I can't seem to find an image of it, but here's a photo of our original sketch. He's a sculptor, and we often discuss each other's work, but this was our first "hands on" "collaborative" effort. Wow--did sparks fly! Different aesthetic visions? We both ended up happy with the results, and our dolphin, called "Catch of the Day" is now in a private collection.

I worked quite a while to get the values just right in this little painting. The palms and their composition were appealing, and the group seemed to acquire almost human characteristics as I became more familiar with them. Notice, too, there's a nice play of complimentary colors going on, red and green, yellow and purple. Now off to a day in Naples doing errands there. Have a wonderful weekend!

I'll be working today on this small painting similar to one I did last week. The arrangement of palms against a background of brush fascinate me and I return to this theme again and again. While it's a strong composition, the color balance is not quite right. The blue of the background upright brush is too strong, the light of the sky doesn't match the intensity of the light on the ground, and the horizontal of the grass against the brush is too distracting. Phew! I'd better get busy!

Water's Edge daily painting by Everglades Artist JoAnn Sanborn

A little late getting started this morning. We were out late, last night with good friends, talking about traveling together later this year. Good food, good wine, and lots of laughs. Thanks, J & R! I did manage to finish this serene water view before heading out. There's lots of glazing over the water to give it depth and light, and the square format's nice, too.

This is my studio, once a bedroom and occasionally a guest room. To my left is large glass door that gives me good light and looks out over our dock and canal. I love being by the water, and might run out if I see a dolphin or manatee passing by--or even a boatload of friends. People who are interested in my work are welcome to visit the studio, either by car or boat. I've got a good selection of paintings right now. Just call ahead first since our schedule is flexible and I might be out in the glades painting!

Famed Everglade photographer Clyde Butcher's is holding his annual "Muck About" is this weekend. Every Labor Day weekend Clyde Butcher invites the public to go for a walk in the River of Grass. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the Everglades in a non-threatening way, wonderful fun, gives you a great appreciation for the land and if you're lucky you'll get to meet Clyde. All three days from 9-3, $20 per person. Wear old closes and shoes and plan to get wet! This is truly something not to miss! Pass it on!

The Studio Gallery, which represents me here on Marco Island, will close for a couple of weeks for September vacation. I've taken back some of the paintings they had, and will give them new pieces for the fall. Thee October show at the Museum of the Everglades is coming together, and I have some new pieces for that. As it always does this time of year my small studio is getting very crowded, so it's a great time to buy a painting! "Nine of a Kind" is fun and colorful, and would look great going up a stairway, in a long line over a soft, or as a large piece here. The pieces are light enough to be hung on push-pins so you can change it around to suit you without banging up your walls!

Sometimes nature gives us the most incredible gifts of beauty. They all have to do with the effects of light in our environment. Such moments are fleeting, and if you are not alert and open to them you can miss them completely. As an artist, if I can get one of these moments down in a way that satisfies me, I've had a good day.

I spent part of yesterday with another artist, someone who ask if she could come over and "watch me paint" She wants to transition from water color, which she's done for years. We had a great time and shared some good art talk, and I've made a new friend.