Road Along the Loxahatchee

Loved doing this little study of this small road that follows the river.  Was captivated by the way the light was coming over this little mound and hitting the road and the tops of the shrubs.  The sky had this slight yellow tint at the horizon.  Wasn't quite as sunny as I portrayed it but just could help make it a bit more of a warm and inviting painting.  Pastel, (12 1/2" x 16 1/2")

The Amalfi Coast

In preparation for the Plein Air Workshop that I am giving in the Amalfi Coast on June 2 - June 11, 2014 I have made a painting based on a number of photo references. The challenge of recording perspectives that are not normally available in South Florida I felt the need to do a few practice runs before I embark on the real thing. I am very pleased with the way that it turned out.  Love the feeling of the strong light.  Enjoy. (Pastel, 16 1/2" x 12 1/2")

Hope to see you in Positano, Ravello and Capri , Italy in June.  For detailed information on the workshop visit the Lighthouse Museum and School of Art's website at www.lighthousearts.org

Blowing Rocks on Jupiter Island

Spent the morning painting at Blowing Rocks and produced this piece that I rather like.  The day started out beautiful but in the last hour the rains came in off shore and halted our progress. Not sure where it came from but it was enough to ruin a perfectly beautiful morning.  Hope you enjoy the painting that has no hint of the impending doom.

Amalfi Coast Plein Air Painting Workshop

I am very excited about the workshop that I am giving June 2-11, 2014 on the Amalfi Coast sponsored by the Lighthouse ArtCenter Museum and School of Art in Tequesta, Florida.  If you are interested please contact Gallery Travel in Tequesta, Fl and speak with Joan Dowrick (561) 745-1550 or Mary Lee Kenny (561) 745-1563. They can give you more details about the workshop.

Going Bananas In Key West

This recent watercolor was made from a number of reference photos I took while in Key West in July.
Love the way the bananas grow. I tried to limit my palette to just to eight colors, with a palette divided into warm and cool.  Was a fun experiment and thought it was a fairly successful interpretation of what I had seen. Also like the "looking up" perspective.

Northwood Shops

Met in Northwood yesterday and got in a little painting in the morning.  All of the shops in Northwood are very eclectic and colorful and makes for a fun day of painting.  Not sure what this antique shop was called but loved the color of the building.

Florida Marsh Sunset

This is a pastel on Wallis paper  I just completed and is one of my favorite type of Florida landscape... marshland.  There is such a simple beauty about a marsh and yet they play a very complex role in our environment.  They are truly amazing and I can not help but be captivated by the marshlands and drawn to paint them at every opportunity.

CELEBRATING VIVA FLORIDA 500

I have just learned that I have two watercolors that have been accepted into the CELEBRATING VIVA FLORIDA 500 Collaborative Juried Exhibition at the new Elliot Museum in Stuart, Florida. My paintings were selected from 300 entries from six states for images that best represent the state of Florida.

The show runs September 20th through October 26, 2013. I will post more information on the opening event date when I get it.

A MORNING WELL SPENT...
Spent the morning at the Loxahatchee Wildlife Preserve in Boynton Beach doing this plein air painting.  It was an absolutely beautiful morning and had to hurry because they were predicting thunderstorms.  Not a good place to be in a thunderstorm. This piece is a 9x12 and took about an hour and am fairly pleased with how it feels and liked how I captured the look of the clouds, with their pinkish/purplish cast to them.  Love painting these marsh low land areas of Florida.

THE OLD WITH THE NEW

This is the first plein air painting that I have done since getting back from my workshop that I gave at SnowFarm, Williamsburg, Massachusetts.  It felt good to be getting back out into the field after about three weeks and painting again.  This was painted at River Bend Park in Jupiter, Florida.  I was taken by this site because of the old dead tree and the young little saplings that were growing at its foot.  You very seldom see bright oranges and lime greens in a Florida landscape and when you do you have to paint it.  The location had fall colors but the temperature was 97 degrees with about the same humidity. Not exactly a fall day!  Anyway I hope you like this little painting of the young and the old.  This painting is oil on canvas board 12x9.

JUST COMPLETED

I just completed this watercolor and it is a composite of about seven different reference photos. The size is 22x30, a standard 300 lb. Arches cold press paper. It took me about 6 months to complete, not because it was so complicated but was due to my total procrastination on this project. Sometimes that just happens!

Plein Air Workshop in Cortona Italy May 12-20, 2013

I am posting photos from the plein air workshop that I just gave in Cortona, Italy.  Cortona is located south of Florence near the border of Tuscany and Umbria.  It is a great location because of the access to all of the great hill towns and the opportunities to paint the broad vistas of mountains and valleys that surround Cortona.  Our home base was the Villa Di Piazzano in Cortona, a former hunting lodge of a bishop in the 1400's and the villa has been totally restored and is now a four star small hotel, a great place to stay.

We took side trips to Florence were we had a private tour guide through the Uffizzi Gallery and other sites of artistic interest.  Other cities we visited were Sienna and Montepulciano, which were all fabulous.  Hope you enjoy the photos and of course I could give you an enormous amount of narrative for each photo but will just leave the photos to tell the stories.   If you are interested in other workshops that I will be giving please email me at...  tedmatz@comcast.net

I would like to thank the Lighthouse ArtCenter Museum and School of Art for sponsoring my workshop and Gallery Travel in Tequesta, Florida for making all of the arrangements.