The Florida Keys are the kind of place which could supply years’ worth of painting inspiration. Here are a few more paintings of my recent trip to the Keys, based on sketches and photos. They just have a totally different feel from the other landscapes that I work with.
Sunrise Florida Keys
Isabelle’s Place, oil on canvas board
Among the mangroves, Florida Keys
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Posted in plein air, Uncategorized
Tagged art, Florida Keys, kit miracle, Marathon Florida, oil painting, plein air
November sunset
Beautiful November sunset. Just turning out of my drive when I caught this one. It looks like November, doesn’t it?
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Interior with Desk, Final, oil on canvas, 16 x 20, Kit Miracle
This is a recent painting of an interior. I’ve got step-by-step images on this page.
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Monet’s Fields, oil on canvas, 16 x 20, Kit Miracle
This is the field next to my studio. In the early fall, it is a riot of colors of wild flowers. This time of year it’s mostly purples, blues and yellows. Of course, as the artist, I emphasized the colors but they were pretty bright anyway. The field was hayed earlier in the year so you’re mostly looking at goldenrod, ageratum, iron weed and Queen Ann’s lace.
Monet’s Fields, original photograph
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When pigs fly. Watercolor / pen and ink, 12 x 16. Kit Miracle
We’ve all heard the admonishment that you need to create art every day. But…life gets in the way. Jobs, family, gardening, etc. Sometimes I find all my have-t0′s overwhelming my urge to create. This weekend I just had to paint.
Yesterday, before I could get overly involved in the rest of the home tasks, I trucked my painting gear out to the front yard and painted this flowerbed which has been calling me for weeks. It seems to be a symphony of purples, mauves, and yellows this time of year. The heat was oppressive. The humidity was drenching. But I had a great time.
For you gardeners out there, you’re looking at purple cone flower, bee balm, weigela, daylilies, lambs ear, and a giant yucca. The flying pig is a bit difficult to make out but he’s one of my favorite yard statues, as he bounces on his spring in a strong breeze. Symbol of not-quite-lost causes.
Giant Moth Mullen Watercolor/ pen and ink, 16 x 12 Kit Miracle
Then, this morning I decided to capture this weed, Giant Moth Mullen. It is already 5 feet tall and will probably top 6 or 7 feet. It has fuzzy leaves, similar to lambs ear and the most interesting curly-type leaves and stalk. It will eventually have a tall spike of yellow flowers which in turn, will produce seeds that the goldfinches love. Probably how it came to be growing near my cellar door. Majestic!
BTW, I was inspired by a blog challenge by James Gurney, who held a recent competition of people who paint weeds. This painting is not entered as it is past date, but I thought it was a perfect subject.
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Posted in art, country living, pen and ink, plein air painting, Uncategorized
Tagged art, country living, gardening, kit miracle, painting, pen and ink, plein air
Peonies at the end of the season. Watercolor / pen and ink. Plein air. Kit Miracle
I had a little time today after doing the heavy gardening to do this watercolor / pen and ink of our peonies. I love them in the spring but it seems their season is always too short. They’re gone before I really get to enjoy them. The weather was warm but breezy with a few spritzes of rain. I tried to capture the blowseyness of the blossoms but I’m afraid that this painting makes them look better than they are.
Posted in pen and ink, Uncategorized
Tagged gardening, kit miracle, pen and ink, peonies, plein air
Irises by the Woodshed
May is a very busy time here in the country. Cleaning up winter debris and preparing and planting summer crops. However, I have managed to find some time for some plein air painting, mostly sketching really.
The first three paintings are just around the yard. I try to catch the spring flowers before they’re gone. I particularly like watercolor with pen and ink overlay. These were all painted in a Pentalic Aqua Journal, 5 x 8, landscape format. The double pages really are challenging but, as you know, artists always like trying new things. The watercolor is actually a small travel set that I’ve had for years (decades?). And the pens are Micron in various sizes .01 to .05, mostly black but I am experimenting with red and burgundy.
Azaleas and Hostas by the Woodshed
On the Patio, watercolor / pen and ink, Kit Miracle
At the Riverwalk, Jasper IN, watercolor / pen and ink, Kit Miracle
Riverwalk, brown ink, Kit Miracle
Posted in plein air, Uncategorized
Tagged art, country living, kit miracle, painting instruction, pen and ink, plein air, watercolor
Self-Portrait with Still Life, 24 x 30, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle
Most artists create a self-portrait every few years so I painted this one last month. I had recently purchased this old mirror and thought it would be interesting to set it up as a still life. My portrait isn’t really the first thing the viewer notices (I hope). The challenges with this painting is that there are two light sources: one on the still life in the foreground and one me as I paint. An additional challenge was to prevent other light sources so I had to black out the windows. This meant I was literally painting in the dark. Check out the step-by-step view of the painting process at this link. Self-portrait with Still Life – step by step
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Posted in art, oil painting, painting instruction, still life, Uncategorized
Tagged art, contemporary impressionist, kit miracle, painting instruction, still life
Lucky Red # 3
I posted some photos of some sunflower paintings that I created the past few months. My intention was to create 12 paintings for a calendar. So I decided to revive my old Cafe Press account (http://www.cafepress.com/kitmiracle). It was so frustrating. Nothing seems to be intuitive or logical with Cafe Press. (And I have managed blogs and websites for over 20 years now so I’m not exactly a rookie.) They have so many pages and subpages, often with different instructions. For practice, I decided to upload my Lucky Red #3 dragon design and create a few products with that image. More frustration. Anyway, the page is updated…sort of. And I’ve got several of the dragon design items for sale. Unfortunately, Cafe Press offers 250 different items. Sheesh! If you don’t see the item you want with the dragon design, just let me know and I’ll create it and get it up there.
Meanwhile, back to the sunflowers….
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Tagged cafe press, dragon, lucky, lucky red
Sunflower, 12 x 12, oil, Kit Miracle $175
Ode to Van Gogh, 12 x 16, oil $225
We have a very large garden and I always plant flowers in it for cutting. Each year, I also plant a variety of sunflowers. The tall Mammoth grow to 12 feet or more. We save their large heads for the birds. I also plant multi-stemmed and many colors ranging from orangey red to deep maroon.
Needless to say, I’m drawn to painting their cheerful faces and usually tackle a few sunflower paintings each summer. Here are two of my recent works. I will probably paint several more which I’ll show on my website. KGMiracle.com Check them out.
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Tagged country living, flowers, kit miracle, sunflowers, van gogh
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