Three Eggpalnts

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. 7"by 5" oil on gessoboard.

Color and shape are what attract me. Eggplants are such crazy shapes! They are so dark in value that it is challenging to see the nuances of value and color. I am also try in to stay loose and be more economic with my brushstrokes. Before I place a brushstroke, I try to make this my painting mantra (I think Kevin Macpherson said it on one of his books):"Is it warm or is it cool; is it light or is it dark?"

Tangled Banana Palms - Landscape

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Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino.6" h by 8"w - Oil on linen panel.

I was actually painting another scene when this view caught my eye. I decided to paint it. I had to work quickly as rain was imminent. I liked the way the greens were kind of tangled together against the pink stucco. This is on a cute little side street in Savannah where there are endless views to paint.

Eggplant Sailboat - Seascape

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. 6" by 6". oil on linen panel.

I got up early to paint this at 7am due to the heat. I have been wanting to paint this boat for a while. Maybe I liked it because it is the color of an eggplant.(Sounds a bit crazy) but it sort of looked like one sitting there in the water.

Any way, boats beat me up. I took this painting back to the studio and finally ended up repainting it. As usual I was attracted to the colors and shapes and the way the light was hitting it. I really wanted to stay loose with this one.(Re-occuring theme) because there would have been way too much to paint if I got committed to detail. I think technical things scare me so I tried to just regard it as shapes and color in a very interpretive manner.I have a feeling boats are going to a big theme when I go up to my workshop in Canada.

Clouds II - Landscape

Copyrighted © by Linda Warner Constantino. Oil on canvas panel - 6"h by 8"w. Click on image to view larger. Click here to purchase.

Thunderhead clouds are like the "mountains of the South." You sense their massive size just by looking. These clouds were like out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. I kind of felt like some kind of miracle was going to happen at any moment! :)

I painted is on a different surface than I usually use.I usually use a #13 Classens double primed linen. This is a medium surface canvas panel. Photoshop picks up the texture more. If I try to hard to downplay it it looks blurry. This is pretty true to how it looks.

Purple Clouds - Landscape

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. 5" by 7" oil on linen panel.Click image to view larger.

The clouds were so dynamic yesterday. Sunny one minute stormy the next. The marsh at the Wildlife Refuge is so flat.It reminds me of the tundra in Alaska where I once lived. Here I was just trying to catch a sense of these clouds.

I came across some newsworthy items for daily painters. There is an excellent write up about Duane Keiser and his new collectors' blog by Katherine Tyrrell of Making a Mark.She includes a kind of historical synopsis of his development.

Karen Jurick is planning a workshop possibly in nearby Savannah. Check out her site for more information.

Eggplants

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. Oil on Belgian linen panel - 6 by 6 in. Click image to view larger. Click here to purchase.

I could not resist these baby eggplants! I played around with the composition a bit because they are so strong in value. Also I finally figured out the light so that you can see more of the value and temperature changes in the eggplants. I do not know what it is about the shape of them, though. I just like them.

Blue Pitcher

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino - oil on linen board 8"by6". Click on image see larger.

I am still going with the blue green thing. Actually I can't help it. All the Arts and Crafts pottery in our house is some version of blue and green. Suffice it to say - another passion. I am still trying to stay looser with my still lifes. I also decided to sprawl a bit with the arrangement of objects since I tend to crowd my compositions a bit. I am trying to keep in the spirit of experimentation this summer and push myself out of my comfort zone.

"Community Garden"- Sold

Copyrighted ©2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. Oil on belgian linen on board - 5"h by7"wide. Click on image to see larger view.

I guess you could say I am "garden hopping" these days. This is a community garden located in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island. There are lots of small plots packed with vegetables and wildflowers and enclosed by an electric fence becasue the deer are rather ferocious down here.

This was another view that required a lot of visual sorting.Since I started painting at 7 am the sun was casting a long golden light across the gardens.

I was re-reading Lanscape Painting Inside & Out by Kevin Macpershon and found this quote that sums up my feelings about small plein air painting,"Loose painterly painting is by no means sloppy. On the contrary, it involves selectivity and an underlying excellence in drawing. A painterly stroke reduces many details to a poetic brush mark that expresses more with less. Objects are revealed with spots of color. The quick application of paint is largely due to to the speed necessary to capture fast-changing outdoor conditions."

Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, SC

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. Oil on linen board - 5"h by 7"w. Click on image to see larger view.Email me me if interested in purchasing.

I got up early today and headed out to a gorgeous spot along the May River in Bluffton. The ground is high by the water - thus the bluff. I did not get going early enough because it got warm very quickly, though once I found my motivation to paint, I was able to ignore the heat for at least a little while.The marsh grasses were really this green!

Cipollini Onions - Oils

Copyright © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. Oil on gessoed artboard. 5"by7".Available for $100 plus shipping. Email me if interested.

This is the real painting in oil that I created before the digital one below. This painting was done from life.

"Tuscan Farmhouse" - Sold

Copyrighted by © 2008 Linda Warner Constantino - 7" by 5" - oil on linen board.

This painting is from my recent trip to Spannocchia near Siena, Italy where I will be teaching a workshop this summer. I was heading to paint another view when I turned and saw this farmhouse nestled in the hillside with the orchard in front of it. I cannot wait to come back and paint in the same area this summer with everything in bloom.

"Peppers" Small Still Life

Copyrighted © 2008 by Linda Warner Constantino. Oil on linen panel 7" by 5".Available for $100 plus shipping. Email me if interested.

I finally feel back in my routine of weekly painting. Painting on site and in my studio from life is a habit I never want to break. I am thinking of starting a drawing from life blog because in one of my classes I have my students do 100 sketches from life and I feel I need to be able to back it up on my end. Perhaps. I need more hours in the day.

In this little still life I was focusing on staying loose and painterly with clean color.

2nd Annual Less is More Show - Laguna Plein Air Painters Association

Copyright 2007 by Linda Warner Constantino. 5'h by 7"w. Oil on linen on board.

The small painting above has been accepted to the "

Less is More Show

" of miniature work held by the Laguna Plein Air Painters' Association. The work will be on exhibit from November 17 through December 28th.

I pass this little palmetto tree every time I go for a bike ride. I always noticed the way it caught the dappled light and it stuck in my head until I had to paint it. It sort of reminded me of the kind of light that comes in a cathedral window.

"Southern Clouds" - Sold

"Southern Clouds" - Sold

Copyrighted © 2007 Linda Warner Constantino oil on linen board 5"h by 7"w.

The clouds continue to be spectacular down here, something about the South. You can see huge thunderheads like this and have it be sunny and raining at the same time.