When I’m in the Bahamas, our home away from home, I find so much more time to paint! (I also do puzzles, crochet, swim, have fun with friends, fish and cook the fish!) But the painting this year was so fun, a flurry of activity after my newfound knowledge and tools from the Plein Air Painting & Expo I went to in Lake Tahoe.  Here are some of the paintings I completed this spring/summer.  

On one of the back roads around New Plymouth is this view of a couple houses built literally on the rock. So I named it House On The Rock.  Of course, I had to add a little bougainvillea for color :-)  

The Albert Lowe Museum is one of the original saltbox style buildings on Green Turtle Cay and located on Parliament Street, which runs through town. The recent removal of the demolished Post office revealed for the first time a pretty good view of the side of the museum.  Was fun to paint.  The original sold at Seagrapes, but prints are available and being sold at Sids and on my website.  

I loved painting the Royal Poinciana trees this year, their blooms never disappoint!  I rigged up a beach umbrella attached to my golf cart for some much needed shade. It worked until a gust of wind reminded me who’s boss. 

And I love the Buttonwood trees on the beach! They are so weathered and twisted, even their leaves seem to have all the color washed out of them, being a silvery green-grey and so interesting.  I painted there three times now, with the paintings selling off the easel! 

These are a few more views from around town that are for sale now at Seagrapes. Soon we will be leaving the island and boarding up our home for hurricane season. We were happy to watch Hurricane Erin move by, but just can’t take any more chances. I’ll be back in a few months and ready to paint more of the island I love! 

What an exciting time I had at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in Reno, Nevada! Over 80 fabulous Master Painters gave instructional demos by morning, and private critiques and suggestions as we painted alongside them in the afternoons.  Imagine going out to paint en plein air with 1200 of your closest artist friends via tour buses! Was crazy, but exhilarating! We went to some amazing locations including downtown Reno, the western iconic town of Virginia City, and the beautiful Lake Tahoe at Sand Harbor. I learned SO much, I just can't wait to paint and share it with you all!

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North Florida is overflowing with wonderful painting venues! To celebrate the area, this North Florida Library chose my artwork featuring the area to hang on their art wall for two months! Be sure to stop by! Everything from Flowers to Marshes, shorelines, boats and bees!

And the Winner Is....  Free Art Supplies (from Jerry's Wholesale Club) and a free Easel from First Coast Plein Air Painters were up for draw! A young student carried the easel out (with the help of her dad) and a 5th grade student from a local school won the art supplies! With it, she joined my on one of our paint outs and created alongside the First Coast Plein Air Painters! A budding plein air artist! 

So exciting to paint with fellow painters around the beautiful city of St. Augustine, FL for five days strait.  And even more thrilling was to have my painting "Shady Lane" chosen as Best In Show out of all the 80+ artists who participated. Thank you STAAA for a great event and the judge Suzanne Allen for chosing my painting to be in the awards!

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I had a great time creating paintings for the new restaurant  The Boathouse, at The Bluff House on Green Turtle Cay, Abaco Bahamas. They included two 4’ x 3’ paintings and a 8’ x 3’ painting, all done on the island and "walked" to the property as the one was too large for a golf cart!  The two smaller paintings are of the Bluff House Beach and White Sound, as seen from top of the bluff.  The large painting is a panoramic scene of the shoreline, showing the Bolo ferry boat as it drops off visitors to the property.