Stewart Jones Art

I am fortunate to get to do commissions of peoples houses. This home is located in Rhode Island. I did the painting for a man as a Christmas Gift for his mother. He grew up in this house. His mother is 93 years young and living in an assisted living home back in Rhode Island. This painting was presented to her as a gift from her son and now she has it hanging above the mantel in her room. I did the painting from a digital photograph that was emailed to me. Adding flowers as requested because his mother had flowers all over the yard, especially in the springtime. If you or someone you know of would like a commission painted for them, have them get in contact with me. I obviously enjoy doing this and it keeps me out of the bars.

Another painting I did while in Savannah was along River Street. It was a quiet morning and a cold front had dumped rain the night before onto the streets. It was still drizzling when I set out to paint. A cup of coffee and a donut from the local convenience store seemed like a good way to start the day. I had found a location the day before that was covered by an overhead walkway of a local hotel. After setting up camp I began painting the buildings along River Street. Once a bustling seaport in the wooden ship era, River Street now is a shopping destination for tourists. As the morning went on, I kept painting while it rained intermittently. The wind would slow down at times yet I wished I hadn't left my jacket in the motel room. I created this painting much faster than I would normally paint which helped in creating the abstract shapes and colors. I had to finish quickly, my hands were frozen.

I was in Savannah attending a wedding when I was awaken by the sounds of a foghorn early Saturday morning. I was only 2 blocks from the Savannah Harbor so I grabbed my easel and paints and went to see if there was anything going on. When I arrived, the river was mostly fog and I couldn't see the other side of the harbor. A tugboat and a cargo ship appeared mysteriously out of the fog, only to quickly disappear again as I heard the sound of the foghorn fade into the distance. I was delighted to find a three-masted ship named the Peacemaker mourned to the harbor wharf. I don't get to paint boats like this often so I immediately set up my easel and went to work.

Almost every morning at the Crescent Beach Paint Out I was up in time to watch the sunrise come up over the horizon. I did a number of paintings of the sunrise that week. Sometimes I would be setting up to paint while it was still dark. This was evident one day when I realized the Arches watermark on the painting was upside down. Starting the day by painting the sunrise not only gets me started early but it loosens me up. I feel that I can create better work as the day goes on after getting that initial jump start. One particular morning I was greeted by the suns rays, alternating colors of blue and orange. I had to try to get that effect with my watercolors. The result is the painting I named "Tequila Sunrise."

I just completed painting in the Crescent Beach Plein Air Paintout. Over a week of painting on location along the beach and near the city of St. Augustine. Forces of Nature was an old cedar tree I found growing along the banks of a canal that led to the Intracoastal Waterway . I spent the afternoon with that tree for three days in a row. Trying to capture the light and strength that nature cast upon that old tree. The first two days I left unsatisfied, hoping I would be able to return again and finish the composition. On the third day I left joyfully, knowing I had created a nice painting. I didn't acutally know how good it was until I put it in the competition and it was voted Best of Show.

I had a chance to go out painting early when I was staying in Connecticut in October. The fall leaves were just starting to change into their warm autumn hues and there was an early morning mist raising over the river. Hundreds of geese were flying overhead and landing in the field next to the river. I resisted the temptation to add these geese into the painting. I was interested in capturing the look and feel of the early morning mist as well as the reflections of the trees in the slowly moving water. The rocks give you a feeling of where you are standing.

I often do a painting for young couples when I am invited to their wedding. Hopefully finding a subject or theme they can both share. In this case I did a painting of the church they were married in on the third of October. This painting was done en plein air on the day of my niece's wedding. There was a 60% chance of rain that day which you can see in the sky I painted. I finished most of the painting in the early morning just before the rain came. It was a beautiful wedding and most of the rain came as we were going from the church to the reception.

This is a painting of the Wekiva River I did as a demonstration at the Central Florida Watercolor Society. The Wekiva River is a 30 mile river starting in two separate fresh water springs in Central Florida and ending in the St. Johns River. I previously did a plein air study at this location and a value sketch to work out the basic composition. My demonstration was to emphasize how I use plein air paintings as reference material for my later studio work. I enjoy adding figures to my work and put the two men in the boat going down the river, just as I had experienced on the day I did the plein air painting.

One of my favorite places to paint is the Winter Park chain of lakes. This painting shows one of the canals that link the chain of lakes together. I enjoy being one of the first boats on the water in the morning. The water is tranquil before the boats and the wind create a disturbance on the surface. One particular morning the sun lite up this boathouse as I was going through the canal. I created this painting in my studio at Gallery on First from a photograph I took that day. This is one of those locations that I just can't stop and paint; due to the boat traffic.

Lake Mizell has been one of my favorite places to boat during the past 25 years. This small lake on the Winter Park Chain doesn't get much activity; which is why I like it. I have done numerous paintings from this one lake. I have seen the shore line change considerably from when I first started coming here. Once half of the lake had no homes, now there are homes that cost over 3 million dollars built there. But this one house I painted has not changed. It sits on a peninsula and has the lake on three sides. I traveled to this lake on three different mornings to complete the painting. Each day as the sun got a little to bright and hot, I would pack up and head home before 10AM. Watercolor painted on Arches paper (image Size 22 x 30).

This was one of those paintings I have been wanting to do for years. The bass is actually mounted and is hanging on a wall in my home. It came from a fishing trip almost 20 years ago. I used to do a lot of fishing and not much painting. Now I do a lot of painting and not much fishing. I caught the fish on Lake Mizell in Winter Park.  The background, I photographed years ago too. I thought it looked like the perfect spot to catch a bass. So I finally put them together.

I decided it was time to do a painting in my studio from my trip to the farmer's market in Sanford. The market is only a block away from my studio at Gallery on First. I usually take a stroll through there every Saturday morning to stock up on vegetables for the week and see what else is new. I eliminated the distracting background and framed the vegetables by painting a dark complementary background to make the carrots stand out. Are you ready to have some salad for lunch?

This house was painted as a commission by friends of the owners of the home. I traveled to South Daytona at the end of May during the rains that created excessive water in the area. The sun peaked through the clouds for about 5 seconds and gave me just enough time to photograph the scene before disappearing behind the clouds for the rest of the evening. I did create a plein air painting without being rained on. Then took the painting and photographs back to the studio and came out with this painting.

My objective on this painting was to paint the reflections in the water. I had a short time to do the painting on Lake Osceola as the sun was setting quickly. I ran out of time as darkness enclosed me. Thus I packed up my gear and completed the painting at a later date. I added the darker shapes in the background area, shadows under the dock and some darker brush strokes on the front and shadow side of the boathouse.

This painting; "Lavender Lady," was started during the Winter Park Paint Out. I ran out of time and did not complete it for the reception. Later, I spent about a half of an hour working on this painting to add the darker shade of green on the pads and added some transparent accents.

The Winter Park Paint Out is over and was a tremendous success for the Polasek Museum. Hundreds of visitors toured the museum and came to see 24 unique artist work on their paintings and demonstrate their talents. I created the painting "Morning Light" while enjoying the gardens in front of the Museum. The gardens were the most magnificent I have ever seen them this week.

Occasionally on my way to the studio I pull off the road and do a painting of the landscape. One Saturday morning in February I drove over the Lake Jessup bridge and decided to do a painting at the Lake Jessup Conservation Area. This is an area that is flooded during heavy rains as part of the St. John's River ecosystem.

I will be one of twenty‐five artists that will gather throughout the city of Winter Park, FL to paint plein air during the first annual Winter Park Paint Out. Plein air is a French term that means in the open air, referring to the fact that the artists will be painting exclusively out of doors. Artists have five days to complete their works during this event. All submitted paintings will be available for purchase with proceeds benefiting the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens and the artists. April 28‐May 3, 2009 www.winterparkpaintout.org