Here is one of my favorite painting spots at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on the bank of the Loxahatchee River.  In the past I’ve seen very large gators here and often there are kayakers going by too.  Not together.

This first plein air is done on an 8×10 panel that I made with a gritty coating to give the surface texture.  It’s done in pastels, pure brilliant pigment – in stick form – better than crayons!

Next on the Loxahatchee, same place different day and time, was also a textured panel – much bigger and was done as a class demonstration.  The class wanted to also see how to underpaint so I used some rubbing alcohol over the pastels, which solidified the background.  Then I waited a bit for the painting to dry and finished the pastel on top.

Wait, I’m not done – there’s one more for now – this one is same place – of course a different day and time and different paper!  Viewpoint is slightly farther down on the river bank.  This one is my favorite – it too has an underpainting – this time with watercolor.

The watercolor underpainting is a great tool.  You can get some great darks in without getting too messy and build some beautiful shadow areas.  Also the pink undertone in the sky and water adds luminosity and air.

Looking at all these together like this makes me want to go there again.

I can’t promise that these are all the paintings that I have done or will do of the Loxahatchee River.