All images are photographed late in the evening for posting the same night we paint them. We strive to reproduce the color of the paintings here as close to our originals as we can, but some variation is probable. The paintings are labeled with our initials preceding the date label and title. The date label is Month/Day/Order Painted.
All of these paintings can be purchased on our website. This link will take you to the page where they're posted... Salt Marsh Studios.
Marc's Day
Today we hit the road a little late due to a few errands to run, but found our way to Fort Pulaski, which is just west of Tybee across the bridge. It's a fantastic place to paint with lot's of beach along the Savannah River, heavy palmetto and piney woods, and of course the history of the place. We like to walk the trails out to the beach area and paint along the fringe, where the growth of the island meets the sand and tidal waters. It was a beautiful morning!
This is a gnat... sometimes called a 'g-nat', or a "'g*d d#*mn... f'ing..." ... and so on. They found us today.
It's not cold here, never is. We sprayed down and my hood was a great Gnat protector!
MH 1/2/1 - Grey Shore
When we walked up to this area, I was immediately struck by the shape of this mass of palmettos and other stuff. I'm fascinated by painting the textures of all of the things that grow down here. One reason for this project we're doing is to become more familiar with what we're painting around us. It's going to take some days into this to feel comfortable trying to capture what it is, three or four times a day. All in time...
MH 1/2/2 - Red Bird
I could have called this Cardinal, but Red Bird has a better ring to it, and is what I hear people call them in the South. I spent a quarter century painting birds, many of those birds were cardinals. To have one land in front of me while painting this tangled green jungle (our yard by the way :) ), was a perfect accent, and it gave the painting a new meaning when it did.
MH 1/2/3 - Burst
This was the second of three painting I painted this afternoon between 2:30 and sundown at 5:30. We were going to head back out but both felt like we would be just as happy painting the yard. And the pooches would be happy to have us here too. We're gone so much doing this that they aren't getting as much time with us as normal. It was a perfect ending to the day.
MH 1/2/4 - Last Of It
I was cleaned up, not quite put away when I looked over and Dottie was going for this last light. What the heck, grabbed a panel and the dirty brushes and tried to grab some of it. Sometimes these quick, spur of the moment pieces are the most gratifying to attempt, even if not perfectly successful. I had a good time trying.
Dottie's Day
Second day with little sleep. My Georgia Bulldogs played in the Sugar Bowl last night, with a 9pm kickoff. Who does that? There should never be a 9pm kickoff, ever! So I was up watching the game until 12:45 last night. And then, as it always happens, once I got in bed, I couldn't go to sleep. Tonight I am heading to bed early to make up for the last two nights. My eyes were so dry today they just burned. Luckily, it was cloudy out.
DTL 1/2/1 - Morning Bend
The sky was very dramatic this morning as we headed toward the beach. This beach area is very natural with lots of scrubby trees and grasses. I loved the way this overflow creek led your eye to the beach and I experimented with just letting the paint pull off the brush. I'm trying to say a lot more with less in scenes like this. Looking at it now that I am home, I wish I would have scraped back some areas. It's always interesting to see the painting hours later ... things occur to you that you just couldn't see out in the field.
DTL 1/2/2 - Shifting Skies
The clouds were moving off but the contrast between the bright sand and the dark blue clouds at the horizon really pulled me in.
DTL 1/2/3 - Glory Light
I love this tree overhanging the marsh and watch it change with the light every day. This afternoon the light was so golden that it was beautifully illuminated. As I was finishing the sun was setting and the light on my easel was gone so I wasn't sure that I had captured it but I'm pretty happy with it. I also painted a fourth painting of the sunset but couldn't finish it because it just got too dark to see.
2 comments:
I'm anxious to see what you do over the next month. I first discovered Marc's work during a marathon plein air in Minnesota. I was later delighted when you moved to Colorado and took two of your plein air workshops. I also followed your Colorado adventure (during a particularly cold March) and worried when you apparently came dangerously close to hypothermia one day. I love both of your work and can't wait to see what you produce over the next month. Best wishes.
I really like your 'Last of it.' Way too often I just quit when I really should have the 'dirty' brushes out and capturing that fleeting light and color.
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