Southern Romance?

 

Storms over Daytime Moon  .  oil on linen canvas  .  12 x 36
~ available ~

 

I've been deep into the mystical, sexy swampiness of the Southern coastal/river waters these last two paintings.  Lingering over the edges to create the suggestion of vegetation, conjuring a stormy sky, setting a "tone" - if you will - to leave the viewer with the feeling of a definite mood.  Mood you say?  Yes, having been mired in moods myself since I walked this earth as a pre-pubescent female (you know what I mean!), I am certainly quite familiar with setting a mood and tone.  But applying that to canvas is another thing and if you pull it off you will reap rewards.  Suffice it to say, you most often DO NOT reap rewards when posing mood and tone in real life!   

 

So, how to achieve a mood when your photo reference was taken out of your car (while driving alone!) as you crossed a shallow-looking, but sign-proclaimed South Carolina river?  It was a bright summer-into-fall day totally devoid of spell-blinding interest, except that the sheer vista of land was heart thumping as you eased away from forest into the open.  "Oh, dinosaurs surely roamed here!" 

 

 My secret recipe:

I took the photo and manipulated it in Photoshop - creating something that pleased my eye and perhaps something deeper - it was a happy surprise when the "dot" of a moon was made quite accidentally.  Happy accidents make life worth living.  Then the artist in me is left with translating the photo reference to a nice long canvas, taking liberty to elongate and change/deepen the colors to reflect "mood."  Note:  I would not have been out on the narrow roadside with storms coming painting "en plein air" as I am a chicken and not fond of traffic or storms.  Hence I make it up, often as I go. 

  

Transition speaks to the years I lived in Florida:

Transition .  oil on linen canvas  .  12 x 36

My romantic years. . .