Florida Moonrise

Florida Moonrise

Here are two versions of Florida Moonrise that I painted over two days. While finishing up a  plein air painting on the property of the Conservancy of Southwest  Florida  https://www.conservancy.org/ I noticed the moon peeking over the palm trees and quickly batted out a 10" x 14" sketch of the effect. I resolved to come back the next day and try a larger version, arriving well before the effect of the moonrise but also allowing for the later moonrise time so that I could lay in the great masses and composition so that all would be ready for the final color adjustments once the lighting and moonrise were at peak effect.

Florida Moonrise 10" x 14" oil/canvas

Florida Moonrise 16" x 22" oil/canvas

Everglades Sunset

Everglades Sunset

16" x 20"

I'm experimenting with working on gold leaf grounds on this one. The trick is to not cover the gold leaf up with opaque paint and to let the shimmer come through the paint layers.Glazing layers of sun thickened oil medium or thinned canadian balsam, increases the refraction index  and heightens the effect.

Florida Sentinels

New shots of recent paintings. This is a plein air painting, 24" x 36", that I schlepped  a mile out to where the big ancient trees live at Corkscrew. This place is epic- the scale is staggering , the energy is charged- a must see or to paint.