Original Art for the Holidays

Give the gift of art by buying original paintings from renowned artists of The International Plein Air Painters. What better way to express your love to someone than by giving them a gift that lasts for a lifetime? Visit the online painting exhibit of various styles and mediums from professional artists.

Click Here to visit the Exhibit.

The Art of Healing

Local Plein Air Painters and myself were mentoring a few nurses of the Munroe Regional Medical Center of Ocala in a project called The Art of Healing. This is the second time I participated in this event which took place at Sholom Park. It was a beautiful sunny but cool November day. The day started out with breakfast, then painting and ended with a scrumptious lunch. I had a good time sharing what I know about plein air painting. The nurses seem to have a good time as well with the hands on instruction. Jessica S. W. McCune an R.N. of the Hospital is the person that put this whole thing together. Among the professional painters that participated were Peggy Watts, Carole Lopez, John Breen, Nancy Moskovitz, Milly Sheffer and Diana Crow just to mention a few. The nurses walked away with beautiful landscape paintings and a better understanding of what Plein Air Painting is. I was glad to participate in this event once again, and am looking forward to the next one. Now Let's Paint!

Here I am with Linda.

John Breen giving instructions.

Sell Yourself

When the occasion allows me to take small finished paintings to a location, I will do just that. If I can pull my car in close to the area I am going to paint at, I just simply unload my gear and park the car later. I try to travel as light as possible at a paint out as to make my trip to my location easy. I always take note cards for sale to every paint out just in case I run into art lovers that happen to stop by and admire my artwork. Besides a good conversation with my visitors I am also handing out my business cards and explaining the process of en plein air. The sale of note cards is always a good way for customers to not only have your paintings in print form, but the fact that they will be sending your cards to friends and family. There is a description of the paintings on the card and my web site address on the back side. I also promote my web site address with two small signs that I hang on the sides of my easel for those shy art lovers that like to watch from a distance. The signs that I made fit perfectly in the easel when I am not using it. The more you try to get your name out there the more people will remember you and your trade. I don't know how many times I've heard people say "rodriguezart.com" that's easy to remember. Now Let's Paint!

My note cards fit perfectly in my easel.

Painting at the Withlacoochee River while customers look through my browse box.

Here I am painting at Rainbow Springs March 5th with the Ocala Plein Air Painters.

16x20 acrylics on canvas.

Italian Mural

Here is the mural I painted recently. Unlike the last two murals that were painted on a smooth surface, this mural was painted on a wall that had a knock down surface. This texture is similar to Spanish-style stucco. It is a little harder to paint detail work, however I was in luck that the finished look was to have a very painterly style. The subject did not have very much detail so right after I chalked 1 foot square grids for an 4'x8' area, I proceeded to draw with a small brush. After drawing in the big shapes I dusted off the chalk grid as I painted in the same manner I use when painting outdoors "en plein air". I wanted the mural to fade out to the color of the wall so I feathered out the edges. Not all walls can be treated equal in the field of mural painting so muralists need to be prepared to paint on many types of surfaces. Now let's paint!

Here I snapped chalk lines every foot.

Here I drew the main shapes with a small brush.

Here I am filling in some minor details.

The finished mural.

New Years Eve

Just before Christmas I finished another wall mural that I will be posting up soon so stay tuned. I wanted to share with you my new years eve project. I was painting or should I say touching up our purple martin decoys. That's right I have a couple of fake purple martin birds perching on their houses. They were a little dull from being up there last year and needed a fresh coat of paint. Also, to add to the mix we play a cd in the back yard with the sounds of purple martins. My neighbors just love the sounds of purple martins on repeat. ;-) I am trying to raise the odds of attracting martins this spring. I sure hope this is the year, and trust me if we don't succeed it's not for lack of trying. Keep your fingers crossed.

Purple Martin decoy.

Besides having a passion for drawing, painting, and photography; I also have a passion for playing an acoustic guitar. I spent new years eve with my wife Terry and playing the guitar with my friend The Legendary Barbara Beam www.barbarabeam.com

Well most of the time I was trying to keep up with her, but all in all we had a good time. It was fun playing next to a warm heater surrounded by X-Mas lights that made the whole evening special. Happy New Years!

Having fun strumming.