Stewart Jones Art

  I enjoyed painting the beach at this years New Smyrna Beach Paintout. My last day at the paintout I made this painting of the dunes. I liked the way the shadows were created by the winds blowing the ripples of sand, just as if they were ripples on water. There were also shadows cast by the light where footprints indicated that someone recently walked through the dunes. I left out the sign “Keep Off The Dunes” as it obviously wasn’t read by the person that left the footprints behind. Watercolor 22x30.

  On my trip to Colorado we drove to the nearby town of Guffey. The population was probably a dozen or so residents. There were quite a few automobiles that been left there to live out their remaining days. I enjoy painting things that will not be here forever. It gives me a chance to capture something that may be of historical significance. I think the old buildings around this old relic might be as old as the car. If you know the make and model of this antique drop me a note. I forgot to check the owners manual.

I was excited to see this old farm while on a recent trip in Colorado. The simple architecture against a scenic mountain in the background is a subject I couldn’t resist painting. There was a nice spot across the road to pull off and enjoy the fresh mountain air and take time to create this painting. I like that there are three main areas that I was able to paint rather quickly; sky, distant mountains and the close hills. Then I was able to concentrate on the row of farm buildings. Taking time to simply illustrate the architecture of each building. The hills were dotted with strokes of darker paint to indicate trees in the distance. The mountains in the background were a quick wash of a violet color. Doesn’t this view look refreshing?

One of my favorite places to visit is Lake Georgia. My friends live on this lake which is near our house in Central Florida. They have been kind to allow me to keep my 40 year old canoe there for many years. Most of the time I take short fishing trips around this small lake. Ocassionally I stop long enough to create a small painting. It is usually a quite smooth ride as I paddle out early in the morning before other boaters take over their lake with larger boats, pulling people on wake boards and tubes. My goal for this painting was to show the dark reflections of the trees broken up by the lighter value of the lily pads. I kept the sky and water simple so they would not create additional attention in the composition. Wouldn’t you like to go for a boat ride on this lake?  SOLD

My favorite time of day: when the sun is just coming up and I’m at the beach. Usually I look towards the sunrise but on this day I was amazed by the pink glow on the clouds as I looked to the north. The clouds were slowly moving to the east which gave me a chance to relax in my beach chair and paint the large blue wash in the sky. I left areas of white which I quickly painted in with a soft pink wash. Next I painted the sand and created the shadows of the wind blown ripples of the beach. I painted the vegetation and suggested a few sea oats blowing in the wind. No-see-ums are tiny bugs that frequent the beaches at sunrise and sunset. I did this painting quickly so I could get away from the bite of the no-see-ums.

One of my favorite places to paint is along the Wekiva River. In Central Florida, this river begins at Wekiva Springs and travels north for 15 miles to join up with the St. John’s River. From there the St. John’s River flows north and enters the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville. This painting was done as a demonstration for my watercolor class. I was drawn to the palm hanging over the River. Each time I  take a trip down the river the palm gets a little closer to the water. Soon the palm will have completely fallen into the water but I have captured it at this moment in time.