Conch Cottage #2

Still working and learning on landscapes/seascapes.  
What constitutes a series?  3?, 5?  I sure wish I'd taken more photos of the Bahamas and Nassau when I was there. 
One of the most colorful places I've visited was Key West, Fl. The most southeastern tip of the U.S. and they have the sign to prove it.
Everything you've heard is true. LOL! People, places, and things. 

Conch Cottage #1

Seascape? Landscape? not sure, but it has land, water, and a building.
I've always backed away from landscapes. Maybe that's because I was trying subjects that I'm unfamiliar with such as hills, barns, mountains, you know.... rows of corn.   LOL ! 
I was encouraged by a fellow blogger to try more landscapes and I thought of what I'm most familiar with and that would be tropical scenes.  Palms trees instead of Pine trees, and sea and sky instead of hills and mountains.. If you've ever been to the Keys in Florida you'll see lots of little cottages like this.. they are hardly more than shacks but the sky is so blue and the water so green that even a tent looks good there. !
 Anyway this is my attempt that I finished this morning.. I'm sure there are lots of things a good landscape painter would change.  Yes, I'll try it again.. Barbra Joan

Carmel Ca.

In the late 80's lived in northern Ca. and loved to take drives to Carmel... I took this photo of one of the cottages. 
and painted it yesterday.  I've never been good at landscapes. But that doesn't mean that I don't try from time to time... 

Tulip Time

When I was on my trip out to the Northwest I went to Pikes Market in Seattle... I'd never seen so many beautiful flowers all in one place. Bunches  stacked together.. I took a lot of photos.. and  today I painted a few quick ones. Below is the picture of just the tulips.
Amazing !

An Artists Story

There was a time I painted in oils.
In fact it was the first medium I chose when I  started to paint seriously.  It was the early 80's . Before that it was mostly drawings, and a few attempts at watercolors.
I did quite a few oils , some commissioned portraits, animals, even an old sailing ship on a stormy sea and others.  Lots of seascapes. 
Some sold, some landed in the trash, and I have only one to myself.. 
The violin painting went to a woman whose father was a violoinist. 
 She said that when she would walk home from school she could hear her father playing the violin.. Usually people want a painting because it reminds them of a certain person, place or thing. Unless they're wanting a color to match their sofa.. 
 I  took a 3 year break from any painting, not by choice, just didn't have the want or need for it. At the time I'd lost half my heart.  It just wasn't in me.  
 When I started again I was  determined to try (again) watercolor.. which I do to this day.  Sometimes I look at my oil paints,  yes still have them and  don't care if they're dried up .. can't bear to dispose of them.. There they sit, packed in those plastic bins.. Memories? yes...Maybe one day.  Barbra Joan