Mary Jane Volkmann Fine Art

When I’m outdoors painting I keep my binoculars and my iBird Explorer Pro handy!  I get such a thrill in watching and listening to the birds, especially the flocks of Sandhill Cranes in Florida at this time of year.  I am now busy putting the final touches on a number of paintings which will be hung at the Prairie Creek Lodge as part of the Six Artists Six Prairies Project.  Outdoor Painter online magazine did a nice feature about our project in a recent article.  You can read more on our blog, and especially about our upcoming big event in collaboration with the Alachua Conservation Trust. (If you are in the area, do try and come as it promises to be a great event!)  In one of my prairie paintings I have attempted to paint a couple of Sandhill Cranes.  Looking at them is one thing, but trying to paint them has required some serious study of their structure and dynamics of gesture!  Speaking of study, I have taken on an interesting new project with fellow artist Linda Blondheim.  It is called the Artists in Residence Project.  We are exploring diverse natural areas in depth so we can paint them with insight and understanding.  We just returned from the Merritt Island and Canaveral National Seashore area where we were astounded by the variety of habitats and ecology we found.  We returned loaded with ideas and images we are painting.  Gradually we will build up a collection of our paintings to show and sell at different venues.  If you know of anyone who would like to support this project through letting us use an unoccupied vacation home or apartment for a week, please let us know.  You can read more on our blog about our explorations and see our paintings as they evolve.  While visiting Merritt Island I met my first Florida Scrub Jays on a walk.  I also observed Roseate Spoonbills, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal and many other birds.  I have decided I want to paint more of them!

Mary Jane Volkmann painting Tuscawilla Prairie

It was a glorious fall in Florida.  The weather seemed to change so slowly and it seemed to my artist eyes that the leaves stayed longer on the trees in more color than I had seen in previous years.  It was great to get out and explore, watching the changing landscape to the calling of the Sandhill Cranes as they arrived during their winter migration.  The prairies exploded in both soft and brilliant golds, rusts, browns and violets and a bush I have yet to identify carpeted the landscape with bouquets of ivory!  I am now finishing several prairie paintings which will be hung during the big event at Prairie Creek Lodge on February 25 as part of the Six Artist Six Prairies project.  The artists in the project will be painting on location and our paintings will be sold.  We have offered a portion of the sales to support conservation, in this case the Alachua Conservation Trust, hoping to help them with their worthwhile endeavors.

Despite my efforts to trim my calendar events, this year brings three invitational plein air painting events, two teaching weeks, a couple of residencies and a major three person exhibition in November.  I must say that I am looking forward to each of them!   Stay tuned, I’ll be uploading new images as my paintings are completed and I’ll write about my journeys on this page.

Happy 2012 to each of you!

an ala prima oil painting I did of a marsh at Seminole Rest

I just returned from two back to back events: a teaching week with my friend and fellow artist Kathleen Wobie at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, followed by a week of painting at the Canaveral National Seashore Invitational Paint Out.  It was a delightful time to be outdoors enjoying the autumn colors and cooler weather while giving students the tools to unleash their creativity at the Folk School, and in personal creative time at the seashore.  I have uploaded a few new images to my painting galleries.

Each time I plan ahead for these events I tell myself I am going to rest and relax with my books in between my teaching and painting, and that I’ll sleep in until the last moment.  Ha!  Instead I find myself waking several times in the middle of the night to run gaze at the stars which I cannot see because of the street and floodlights in my neighborhood at home.  I saw the milky way so clearly several nights!  Then I set my alarm, but jump up before dawn excited to see the beautiful sunrise and listen to the first bird calls of the day!  I tell myself I’ll rest in the middle of the day, but instead I walk around looking at the beauty around me while sniffing the air to enjoy the fallen leaves, clover and mist.

While I was at the paint out at New Smyrna Beach I discovered a gorgeous marsh at Seminole Rest.  On one side I could watch the sun rise over the Indian River while on the other I could watch the birds and marvel at the reflections in the water in the marsh.  One morning I set up to paint and a friendly neighbor walked up to me and asked if I would like to paint from the large second floor balcony of the house nearby where I would be sheltered from the wind.  This gave me a unique perspective of the marsh in every direction.  The paintings I did there, such as the one in this post, were ala prima, which means I painted them there and haven’t touched them further.  I have met so many kind and interesting people the last couple of weeks and I thank each one of you for your interest, your support, your hospitality and for sharing of yourselves and your stories.

Autumn at John C. Campbell Folk School

Sunrise over the Indian River at Canaveral

Now it’s time to think about upcoming events and new paintings while working with our conservation partners, the Conservation Trust of Florida and the Alachua Conservation Trust, painting our natural areas and finding ways to sell these paintings to contribute to my upkeep and their conservation efforts……

Life is good!

Welcome to my new website!  I’ve wanted to do this myself for a long time, so I finally registered with ed2go and took a course in Word Press.  This is the second course I have taken with ed2go, and I am incredibly impressed.  Many thanks to David Johnson, a fellow artist who designed and maintained my website so beautifully for several years, to Oliver Volkmann, our son, who re-did it and maintained it for me, and to Brian Pollock, who helped me code the new header, template variation and other adjustments for this site and who is now hosting it with his new Tampa based company.

So many people ask about my paintings, explorations, workshops and new art and conservation project that I have decided to incorporate a blog into my website.  I will be updating it once or twice a month.  If you’d like to follow along, do subscribe. I’ll be sharing stories, photographs, interesting information and, of course, paintings!

I hope you enjoy what you find here!     ~Mary Jane Volkmann