$100-Dinghy Crowd-0118B-6x8

$100 plus $10 s/h

to purchase with PayPal or credit card click the "buy now" button below

and over cast day on the docks where all the people that live on boats park their dinghies when they come on dry land. love the redish gas cans and orange life vests on a mostly blue day. mice spark of complementary color.

SOLD-On the Waterfront-0117B-6x8

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this scene is right next to conch republic seafood restaurant. some of it anyway!

i made up everying to the right of the staircase, taking a page out of the playbook of one of my fave artists Edward Seago. they say he often made up half the stuff he was using in a painting. he had painted outdoors so much that he had a virtual library of stuff to pull from in his imagination. i remember early on in my painting career not being able to do that at all, and how frustrating it was to have to be a slave to painting what i saw. 

SOLD-Stock Island Gray Day 0119B-7x9

note: this is a little bigger than normal for the same price as a 6x8 

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after being sick in bed all day yesterday i went out and painted with my buddy john clayton (go check out his blog) this morning in the overcast. he really appreciates the colors of that light key. i'm learning to. i love these studies that are quickly rendered with no muss or fuss.

$100-Southernmost House of Worship-0116B-8x6

$100 plus $10 s/h

to purchase with PayPal or credit card click the "buy now" button below

loved the purple "glow" on the shadow side of this cool church.

$100-30 Minute Figure Study 0116B-9x7

$100 plus $10 s/h

to purchase with PayPal or credit card click the "buy now" button below

Figure salon has begun at the community college and this was the 2nd of a few 30 minute studies. if you want to learn to paint (draw) paint the figure.

SOLD-Yellow House on White St.-0114B-6x8

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just found out i'll have a show of the new paintings i'm doing for the gallery on greene in key west. it'll be mid march. if youre in town, stop by during the exhibition (or after) and see the new stuff! i'll start posting some of the ones ive got done here shortly.

here's the plein air mobile! my trusty $20 bicycle complete with basket and a homemade back rack made of wood and a curtain rod i found. this is the stealth model for slippin' in and out of KW alleyways and lanes. its camoflouged so wary tenants and angry street vendors dont see me till i'm almost done with the painting!

look at the lush backyard. my island hideaway. 

SOLD-Joans Neighbors-0107B-6x8

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love how all the little conch houses are packed into a block. the blocks are small and can hold four of these little beauties!

like the 'halo" effect around the foreground picket fence? 

p.s. --click the image and it will blow up to see the brushwork in detail on this one

In the Middle of the Road

here i am at the office yesterday. right in the middle of what used to be the inbound lane into KW. but the powers that be decided to put up a barricade right down the middle of the island turn what was the outbound lane into the inbound lane. theyre putting all the important cables etc under the road. all traffic going the other way is rerouted to the other side of the island. needless to say its a nightmare to drive (but a great place to paint). expected completion date? 2015

oh yeah... i'm obsessed with painting from the "war zone" as i call it. funny thing is i'm out there painting the beautiful shapes of orange barrels, dirt and construction signs, all against a blue/turquoise water scene dotted with palms backdrop. not one soul is working (or hassling me) for as far as the eye can see. then the other night i'm painting a late night scene and this guy comes out and starts jabbering away at me wanting to know why would i come out at night and paint and get away from his little concession stand. the only people that arent nice to street painters in this town (and everywhere) are people who have businesses on the sidewalk or alley youre on. very territorial.

i'll post the paintings when i get em tweaked enough for human consumption.

SOLD-Cul-De-Sac Tropical-0105B-8x6

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Had to install and use google chrome as my browser to get photos to upload. i surprised myself with my techno saavy!

One from last year

blogger's being hard to get along with today and wont let me post my most recent painting so you'll have to settle for one from last year. technology....you gotta love it when youre not hating it, right? will post the other painting as soon as i can

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if youre in KW this winter my teaching schedule is over on the right sidebar. i'll be doing weekly classes at the Studios of Key West february and march, as well as private lessons. just drop me an email for more info.

also- ive got tons of free lessons at jerrysartarama.com that you might like. just google "mike rooney jerrysartarama free art lessons" to see em!

 

looks like its supposed to rain off and on here for four or five days so i'm sure i'll be jonesing for some sunlite to paint when thats finally all gone.

Small Town Shadows-0101B-8x10

a small town sidewalk in nc in december.

 

made it to orlando on the first day of my 18 hr.trek to KW. thanks for your hospitality and great spaghetti paul!

funny story about paul (and a great lesson for plein air painters)

 

you know how when youre out there painting away in a very public place, people love to see what youre doing? and they want to talk to you about the piece, but sometimes we're concentrating so hard on the painting we arent as sociable as we usually might be?

well check this out! i'm painting in key west a few years back where the cruise ships let folks off. i'm working on a street scene and a guy and a girl come up and are very interested in what i'm doing.... its paul (and his girlfriend) we chat awhile about the little study and he says he's from orlando visiting KW and wants the little painting. so i sell it to him, find out he's also a painter and we become friends. he signed up for the italy workshop i did a few years ago, and then another one last fall in maine. we paint together every time he visits KW and we are great friends to this day!

 

moral of the story. dont ever, ever be short and unsociable with pedestrians when youre painting. if you are mean to them, they could turn out to be one of the best friends you NEVER had!

SOLD-Sheila's Side Yard-1229A-8x10

below is a glimpse into how i'm thinking in the initial 10 minutes of the block-in. i'm very concerned where the darkest areas of the painting will be and i get em in dark quick (in this case differing shades of alizarin crimson)

if youve ever taken one of my workshops you know how long i spend stressing value. and for good reason. most of the problems i'm dealing with in these classes are value problems.

 

look at how the painting "works" after i changed it into shades of sepia with my photo editor. i always say if it doesnt work in black and white its not gonna work in color either. if i could only say one sentence about anything it would be this- see how everything that gets sun is lighter than whats in the shadow. as you painters out there know, thats simple in theory but difficult in the real world struggle of making a decent painting.

 

note: my posts may get more sporadic while i pack up everything to go to key west and get settled in. but i'll post as often as i'm able. once i settled in down there i'll be doing tons of 6x8's. if anyone's interested in pre-ordering something from my upcoming series of palm trees and conch houses, just let me know so i can get you on the list. if you just started watching my blog go to the right sidebar and hit previous years the months of december-april and you'll see what i do.

Next to the Lift-1228A-8x10

a boat in the state of repair. thing is this things been sitting in about the same condition (and spot) for the last several years. funny that in all those years i havent painted this motif before (tho i have painted the boat). today the light hitting the cabin area was gorgeous! so here it is

 

this shows that you can paint around where you are everyday for years and never run out of things to paint. Henry Hensche said "anything with light on it is beautiful". how true!

SOLD-Quiet Resting Spot-1227A-18x24

went back today to finish the painting i started with Guy the other day. that day a high milky deck of clouds formed just after i got the drawing done on this medium sized painting. not good for getting color notes down, but i just kept putting in big shapes in the somewhat approximate color for a few hours. then i came back today on a nice clear sunny day and put the actual colors i was seeing over the block-in. i also used very large raggedy brushes and that helped me achieve my goal of keeping it loose and painterly, the holy grail for my larger work.

SOLD-Out in the Country-6x8

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the light was silvery and pretty today so off i headed with my new pared down plein air kit. i ditched the big backpack and filled a small satchel with ONLY the essentials. doing this in preparation for my key west bicycle setup i'll be using daily soon.

was painting in a small town the other day and a fellow brother of the brush named guy jackson visiting from houston saw me and introduced himself. we knew all the same online painters and he had studied with many of the cape school teachers i know of, like camille prezwodek and susan sarback. we painted together in one of my favorite haunts (picture above) the next day, and had a great time. thats one of the cool things about this plein air painting gig. you meet the nicest folks.

 

he said when he first saw me and my suv full of painting junk that i was either a painter or homeless. ive heard that more times than i can count!

hope youre having a great holiday season and i wanted to thank you all for following my blog, going to my galleries and workshops, buying my dvd's, and last but not least, buying and viewing my artwork! without you, i couldnt do what i love for a living. thank you!

SOLD-Spanning Sides-6x11

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second one from the parking deck. loved the reflections in the water and the color harmonies. i'm striving to keep a chunky look to my shapes without a bunch of "wispy" strokes. the water really looks watery dont you think? wow, i need to remember how i did that :D

i was asked how i did my reflections in the painting i did a few posts ago

so here are the bullet points-

• put a slightly lighter shape all over the shape of the reflection
• make it warmer and lighter than the water, and keep it grayed down
• as you get closer and closer to the source of the light thats making the reflection, add lighter and lighter zones
• add yellow, pink, or orange paint "spots" that are almost 90% white, right at the end
• be sure the reflection is the lightest shape in the whole painting or it wont read as sparkly

Downtown Shadows-5x7

email me to purchase

yesterday was gorgeous. temps in the middle sixties so i grabbed the plein air gear and headed to a downtown wilmington parking deck roof. as the sun was going low this cool shadow showed up on the white building on 2nd street.

 

i went crazy!hurry hurry get it drawn before its gone. as the painters out there know, winter sun goes down twice as fast as normally (especially this close to the winter solstice). in a few weeks the sun will start staying out about a minute longer every day. of course where i'm headed (soon) the sun wont set as soon as here because its closer to the equator. just keep thinking of reasons i love that place!

Waterfront Shimmer-22x28

email for price and availability

 

this one came together easily. some work out that way and others are a struggle and battle from start to finish. i will say that i did a value study of it first and had a great plein air study to work from (as a color study) so that might have had a lot to do with it. that doesnt mean you wont struggle just because you did that, but it has to influence the number somewhat, right?

 

i love the shimmer and was able to keep that the reason for the painting even tho' there were plenty of ways to get waylayed from that mission.

 

this is swansboro nc for those that like to know such things

In Progress-Finding my BIg Style-22x28

just started another 22x28 and thought i'd take you along for the ride. this first shot is the block-in using my bastardized version of the cape school technique. the orange you see all over is the original wash color. then i put the darks in with alizarin crimson and the light lights with yellow (and in the water, some white) i try real hard to leave white out of my underpainting colors because it tends to lock down the painting too early. it also starts to cool and gray shapes. i want the opposite to happen.

further along in the process you can see where i'm putting saturated color over the underpainting. i'm using very large brushes (2" down to 3/4") i'm correcting the initial drawing. also very cognizant of whats in the light and whats in shadow and reflecting this in the differences between their respective values .this gives you the structure for the painting. as you can see, an underpainting with the right values and shapes will nearly look finished in an image on the computer (or digital pic) or when i stand back a distance. if it doesnt read well from 12 feet away you better stop and regroup and work on that before you even think about taking out smaller brushes

SOLD-Big House Little House-8x8

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this is the deal of the month! an 8x8 for a 6x8 price! they dont last long on here so hit Buy Now in a hurry.

 

everybody in my blogosphere thinks ive bugged out to key west early because of all the tropical subject matter here lately.nope not gone yet but definately keeps me warm on these cold dreary days.

i like that ive learned to make a shape warm and light but keep it in the shadow family. i know small thing to get excited about but what can i say!

 

if you'd like private lessons when i'm in key west jan-april drop me an email.