Amelia Island part 2 and fall paintings

This is SanJon Gallery in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Fl.

Here is the shot of Sandy Hinton and me in front of some of her wonderful works in her gallery I talked about last week. Sandy paints in acrylic and watercolor. She had a painting in the Tennessee Watercolor Society exhibit this year. I put links to her work and the gallery in last time. I hope to show a few tropical paintings in her gallery during October. Amelia will be a great place for the workshop. Lots of interesting things to paint!

I don't know why I couldn't load my photos last week, but I think the computer is trying to tell me something. I think I have every photo on it that I have ever shot with a digital. HMMM- time for a cleaning?

This week in the studio I have been working on fall landscapes. Never too early to get ready for fall shows! My concern has always been how to keep fall landscapes from looking like "Kmart", excuse me, but the contrast of reds, oranges, and yellows, with greens and browns can be too much. I credit Diane Johnson with getting me in the North Carolina mountains one fall to paint foliage. Her advice was to mix a complement with the colors. Since the sap is going away, so is the color, so you need to dull it. Only where the sun hits directly on upturned leaves would there be a brighter hue. I try to keep that in mind when painting fall scenes.

Get out and enjoy the summer while you can!

Durinda

Around Amelia

We have just returned from a long weekend on Amelia Island, Fl. Our visit had a dual purpose: I wanted to check out spots to paint in October when I teach a painting workshop, and Bill wanted a little R & R which included good seafood. So, we managed to do both.

Sandy Hinton, artist and owner of SanJon Gallery in Fernandina, is formerly from North Georgia. She was a founding member of In Town Gallery, the artist co-op in Chattanooga, a past president of Tennessee Watercolor Society, and a signature member of National Watercolor Society. Sandy's gallery is in the historic section of town in a house built in the 1800's. Sandy was very helpful in giving me ideas of places to paint and Bill places to eat. You can see her work on her website: www.sandrabaker-hinton.com and check out the gallery: www.ameliasanjongallery.com. Sandy does a lot of work with the endangered sea turtles, helping the babies to get to the water and keeping an eye on the nests. Seems everything likes turtle eggs!

Fernandina has 50 blocks of old Victorian era houses and commercial buildings. I was able to paint a row of houses on Friday morning by standing on the sidewalk across the street, under a tree. It is nice when a town has wide sidewalks and some shade! I tried to download my photos for you, but I think my camera was set on large file and they were too large to use. I will have to work on that! My new Nikon D80 is great, I love the clarity and playing with my zoom lens, but the manual is like a textbook and I haven't gotten very far!

Another wonderful feature of the area is the marshlands. I love them! I can't wait to see them in October when they will be golden. We saw pink spoonbills on Saturday. From the road they looked as bright as flamingos. Beautiful! It was also pretty amazing that the island had a sunrise view on the Atlantic side and a sunset view over the Amelia River. So much to paint and so little time! It will be hard to decide what to paint in October!

The regular classes at Happy Painters start soon. I am excited to see what everyone has been working on this summer.

Off to paint now!
Durinda