California Map and Florida Map Art

Map Art

This was an interesting commission project for me.  A client had two homes, one in California and the other in Florida.  He hung the California map painting in his Florida home and the Florida map painting in his California home.  Each color pattern and divides in the state map paintings represent the state’s counties.  I originally started putting the names of each county on the map but the image became very busy – so I painted them out.  I like the abstract quality of the way the maps came out

 Being a west coast guy I did not know that there was a Highway 1 that ran along the east coast. I do know that Highway One route along the west coast is one of the prettiest drives you could ever want to take – particularly as you get above San Francisco.   The highway is over 1650 miles from the Mexican to the Canadian boarder and I have driven it a couple of times.  The route extends from the beautiful beaches of Southern California to the lush, green forests into Washington.   And in-between is the astoundingly beautiful country of coastal shorelines and redwood forests.

Cat Art Critic

I had a visitor in my studio yesterday looking at my paintings. The cat turned and with a look of forlorn, I could almost hear it’s thoughts. “There are no MEOW-tains in the paintings.

I have a small room off the main studio where I put up my smaller work.  It is like a miniature gallery, approximately 8 ft by 8 ft and I only used to show this type of work.  The semi abstract landscapes are primarily painted in my studio from memory of the plains and farm fields that are only few miles from where we live.  Although we are in an urban area these fields I see on most days.  Like the beach which is only a couple of blocks away it gives me great opportunity to sample a variety of environments.

I do create plein air art and try to get out once or twice a week into the surrounding areas.  It is like a pilgrimage to escape into the more remote areas and spend the day in quiete solitude painting.