Plein Air Cypress trees with Spanish moss

So I'm on a roll (with 2 posts in 1 day) and have a bunch of art that needs to be published...for whoever might be interested in seeing it. Here's another piece I did last week plein air while in the Village of Fenney, central Florida. I was facing the sun so some of the photos are a bit washed. But the sequence is shown below. Painting cypress trees with Spanish Moss is fun. And the bugs were non-existent as was the heat.

 The source photo and location shot

 A quick sketch to get things positioned

 Darks, sky, tree trunks placed

I got to sit right next to the car so the final piece. 1.5 hours 11x14 oil on canvas panel

Florida Heat and my first plein air work

Oh how life just passes us by. One minute I'm living and working away in Milwaukee, the next I'm announcing my retirement and moving to Florida. I'm free now to create. Free from day to day toiling in the office. Weeks have gone by as my wife and I have had to get "set up" in our new house in The Villages. Yeah. 55+ planned community in central Florida. So much to do and it's all fun!

I set up my studio in a 3rd bedroom. I found my easel and Easy L box and off I went to paint. First stop was so close to my house; a county park called Lake Okahumpa, Today was a typical blazing hot June day. Morning 9-11am was the time slot for this painting.

 The first marks. A loose turpy wipe down of paint.

 Setting a couple of darks and slight adjustment from initial sketch.

 Establishing shapes and wiping out strong light areas along with the cast shadows.

 The photos look washed out because I'm shooting with the phone looking into the light. Not a good excuse but it's the truth.

 Light has already moved since I started but I wanted you to see the subject matter. Better late than never.

The Spanish moss hanging from these trees is very unique. Used a smaller sable round to drag a loose bit of paint down off the branches. I think it works. 9x12 on canvas panel with oil.

Drive 2 hours. Paint 1 hour. Great old barn in oil

This fall I was driving around aimlessly looking for somewhere to paint. If I spent as much time painting plein air as I did looking for that so-called perfect spot, I'd be a much better artist! By chance, as I blasted down a highway at 60mph I glanced to the right to look up a weedy road. STOP...pull over and back up. Nothing posted as private so I drive in about 40 yards and here is this awesome abandoned bard/shed. The painting had to be looking inside the building with all the broken wood slats and light streaming through the roof. 

I didn't get a close up of the 8x10 oil painting, but it was fun to try and get those grays correct. I kept the palette to just a couple colors and tried to work fast. So after driving for an hour, I painted for an hour. The sun was going down and it was time to,,,drive another hour back home. Such is the life of this plein air artist.

Colectivo Coffee- Corporate Christmas Party raffle item

I was invited back this year to paint at the corporate Bostik Christmas Party. Held at the Calatrava/Milwaukee Art Museum, it was a great event. This painting was a raffle item, won by a woman who frequents this coffee shop, Colectivo, in the Fourth Ward of Milwaukee. Completed in acrylic on 40x30 gallery wrap canvas over 4 hour period. I was able to snap a couple of progress photos (bottom up).