January 3, 2020 - A New Year, Two Views

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.

Dottie's Day

One of the reasons I love the coast is the sky.  It is vast ,,,, on the marsh it stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction.  I feel like I can breathe better with so much space around me.  It puts "me" in perspective too.  I feel small, my problems feel small and the world feels big enough to get lost in.   Today, like so many days, the sky was in a constant state of change.  Like it was trying on different personalities to see which one fit the best.  Beautiful to watch, and a challenge to paint.  In each painting that I did today, the sky started out one way and by the end of the painting was completely different.  And as always, the temptation is to change what you started because it always seems to get prettier or more interesting.   

DTL - 1/3/1 - Friday morning

The sky early this morning was very dramatic.  A wonderful dark layer of low lying fog to the west while the sky to the east was bright from the sunrise.  The effect on the marsh was this beautiful golden glow.  I loved the way the grass in shadow played off of the bright gold of the tops of the grass.  I worked with a lot of cold wax in this one.  I love the immediacy of the solid feel that it gives the painting.  

DTL - 1/3/2 - Velvet Sky

I started this painting immediately after finishing the first one and you can see how quickly the sky had changed.  Clouds were moving in from the south and the low ceiling was so compelling.  The clouds felt like velvet to me.  Like a nice soft velvet blanket was settling down over the marsh.

DTL - 1/3/3 - Fog Lifting

The clouds from earlier settled in and the light was gone.  We drove around for a while trying to figure out where to paint and out of nowhere the sea fog started rolling in.  Presto Chango!  Another sky to paint. :)  We set up and began to paint the heavy fog over the marsh and water and as soon as I got the land mass blocked in I could see that the fog was beginning to lift.  What I had thought was going to be a very tonal painting suddenly brightened as the fog started moving out.  I worked fast to get the sky in.  We went back out this evening to paint and got another sunset painting done but we were just too tired to photograph them so they didn't make the blog today.  Dinner and a glass of wine were way more compelling.

Marc's Day

We've finished the 3rd day of our 31days of painting our loved area around Tybee Island.  Having spent so many Januarys of my life in places where you don't go outside expecting warm air to hit you in the face, painting down I'm constantly surprised when I walk outside by how cold it isn't.  Today was a balmy and humid 65ºF, with a light breeze and a moving sky that alternated between 'moody' and 'foggy' with lot's of enhanced atmospheric perspective to enjoy.  I think that I could have painted 6 paintings today before lunch!  We needed to head in to check on our dogs at one point, then decided since we both already had 3 pieces done before lunch, that we should do a few house keeping items, then head out in the late afternoon.  We did, but it was so late when we were done that we're foregoing sharing the last two pieces tonight.  They'll go up tomorrow.  If it rains as forecast, we might need them to fill in the gaps.

MH - 1/3/1 - Lowest Tide

Dottie and I have painted this area a number of times.  It's a pull off on the Tybee side of the Bull River bridge on Hwy 80.  We get a great broad view looking north and west towards the Savannah River, across McQueen Island.  There are always a lot of birds in the area, an added bonus, and this creek that has a little oxbow in it is always a good subject.  Last March we both took a 2ft x 4ft board out here and painted paintings.  Those took us about 2 -1/2 days on site, but it convince us that we NEED to do more of that.  For this painting event we've limited ourselves to these 9"x12" panels, even though at times it would be nice to have something larger, something of a different format, like a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio.  We're sticking to our original plan for now. 

MH - 1/3/2 - Shrouded Marsh

After painting the first piece, I turned to the east and saw that a front of low ceiling fog and moisture was moving off land and onto the marsh from the west.  The sun was being covered by the moisture, then it would poke it's warmth through, creating lot's of drama.  Eventually the fog completely blocked out the sunlight, and everything went flat.  While it lasted it was a great time painting it!

MH - 1/3/3 - Lazaretto Creek Fog

Looking for one more painting before heading in to get some lunch, we pulled into the Battery Park on Tybee, a familiar spot for us to go paint.  By now the fog had settled in, so we decided it would be great to paint.  As fog goes, about the time you get set up and start painting, it lifts or lightens up so much that the original intent has changed.  No matter, it was a nice place to be.