New work for Fall 2018...."Seafood Series"...Oil Paintings

These are some fun renditions of the traditional crustacean collection that is popular in this area.  I just hate that oysters don't have eyes....it gives them so much more personality!

Large oyster ................oil painting

I have been wanting to paint a large painting of an oyster for quite some time.  I have done them on 12x12 canvases before.  But this bad boy is 36"x36".  My favorite part is how the light is shining through the lemon.  I took the photo that I painted this from when we were in New Orleans for our anniversary about 4 years ago.  That's why I like painting from photos.....it still looks as fresh as it did 4 years ago!

New Paintings for Red River Revel (Food)...oil paintings

8x16......Crawfish

12x12....Oyster on Halfshell

12x12....Crayfish Square

12x12.....Tomatoes Everywhere

12x24.....Sliced Tomatoes

8x24.....Gumbo

8x8......Pear Still Life

12x12....A Little Crabby I



This is more work that I am packing to take to the Revel (see previous posts).  You may notice that my title names these paintings in the category of "food".  Someone was looking through my print bins one day and laughed when he came across the crabs and the crawfish (as well as shrimp and oysters) in the bin labeled "food".  All I can say is he "must not be from around here".   In the South, these are most definitely food. 

And now for another facet of the Revel that keeps me coming back.  I think I will call it the "neighborhood" that I am in.  Well-run shows generally try to put your booth in the same area as it was when you came before so that your customers will know where to find you.  I am lucky enough to be neighbors with an great group of folks that look out for each other and enjoy hanging out together.  When you are there for as long as we are it helps to be around nice people! 

Crabby Guy....oil painting.....#29 of 30 paintings in 30 days...

 

8x24.....oil on canvas.....$230

 

In deciding what I wanted to post on this second to last day of the 30 in 30 challenge, I was looking through the remainder of my new fall paintings.  I came across this one and I said "Oh, I need to show this crabby guy!"  So he is now the Crabby Guy...He has cousins known as  the Crabby Couple.  I may make a whole Crabby Family one day, who knows?

Wading...Oil Painting of a Blue Crab(Challenge #1)

 

10x20.....Wading.......$240

 

September is here!  And so begins the Leslie Saeta 30 Paintings in 30 days challenge.  I am looking forward to trying to accomplish the goal of 30 new paintings posted in 30 days!  Wish me luck!

 

This is one of my favorite new paintings.  In person the water on this one looks so real that it seems that if you touched him your hand would get wet.  But who would touch a crab running around loose in his own element? 

 

We just returned and unloaded the car from our trip to New Orleans for the Palmer Park Art Market.  I'm hot, tired and hungry .....feeling a little crabby. Hence the choice for my first of thirty paintings.   



Crab-i-liscious....oil painting

16x20......original oil painting on canvas

I love this painting, and it is one of my first to feature a more realistic colored crab.  I was really digging my awesome colorations...and then my husband mentioned that once the crab is cooked...as it would be when you actually put it on a PLATE....they turn orange.  Oh, yeah, they do, don't they?  Oh well, lol.  I still like it.

Market Fresh...original oil painting of FISH

24x24 ....oil on canvas

This is my favorite of my new paintings this spring!  I love the colors and the unique-ness of the subject.  In person, this one has great depth and presence.  If it was a floral painting, I would say you can almost smell it, but with this one, well, you know......

Beached......oil painting

This is the first painting that sold at my art festival in Shreveport at the beginning of Oct.  It was a larger version of the 12x12 crabs that I have been doing.  This one was 16x20 and was done at the suggestion of my daughter, Dacia.  Good idea Daysh!  I'll have to listen to you more often! 

Bonito.....oil painting

This is a fish that we caught this summer when we went deep sea fishing during our trip to Dauphin Island.  I asked my son-in-law, Shaun what it was after I had painted it and he said it was a bonito.  So I went with that.  Well, I was sitting in my booth in Fairhope minding my own business and a little boy who could not have been any more than 6 or 7 said, "Look at the bonito, mom!".  Wow, that is some savy little fisherman! 

My Crab, Shrimp, Crawfish, Oyster series is still proving to be a favorite.  They are so versatile... horizontal on a backsplash, vertical in a group of two or three, hung in a block of four, three in one spot and the fourth on an easel on a pile of cookbooks.  Lots of ideas and luckily lots of seafood in the sea! 

The Crabby Couple...Oil painting

10x20.....Oil on canvas......SOLD

I have been prodded from more than one arena to get busy and update my blog.  So here I am.  Me and the Crabby Couple. 

It was quite hot at my last outdoor art show and the mood was less than stellar between my husband and me as we set up my tent and hung paintings.  I pulled out this painting and said, "Oh, another Crabby Couple".  I was so delighted with my outstanding wit that my mood was better from then on.  (Plus a storm passed to the south of us and the wind picked up and the temp dropped about 15 degrees...that helped too.)

Baker's Half Dozen....Oysters....oil painting

Baker's Half Dozen.....16x20....Oil.....$350

This is a fun painting that I did for my upcoming outdoor shows.  I think oysters are cool to paint, but very hard to capture.  They are such a funky, interesting food that I couldn't resist.  I have been on a seafood kick lately.  More to come soon.

Oysters on the Halfshell...Oil painting...

Oysters on the Halfshell....12x12....oil....SOLD

This is a painting that I did at my workshop in Alabama this past weekend. Carole Foretwas the teacher. We had a great weekend, ate great food (thanks to Todd), met her beautiful daughters, and got to paint!!! Great people in the class. All around just what I needed in a lot of ways. I love my oysters....plan to paint more.

And to those in my family (or your family for that matter, if they are not the same folks I am already talking about) that are experiencing serious troubles right now, please know that I am praying for you "without ceasing". You know who you are.

Crabs and more crabs....Shell-y and Clawed

"Shell-y".....12x12.....oil....$150(sold)

"Clawed"...12x12....oil....$150(sold)

These are two more in my "seafood" series...I have loved giving them slightly skewed people names. If these guys don't sell, I might just end up hanging them in my house somewhere...I like them that much.

Seafood Sampler...Crab, Shrimp, and Crawfish

Painting 1

Painting 2


Painting 3

# 1..."A-2 Fay"....12x12...oil.....$150(sold)

#2..."Barbie Q".....12x12....oil....$150(sold)

#3...."Sue Shee"...12x12.....oil.....$150(sold)

These are three paintings that I did for the festivals that I have coming up. As I said in a previous post....this is how I want to paint. I love the colorful loose style and the mood of the paintings. And it was a little bit of fun naming them.

Martin the Crab...

Martin the Crab....8x16.....oil.......$130(sold)

I have a friend, Martin. He paints crabs. In fact he is "the Original Crab Man". He will think that I am painting crabs because he paints crabs and because he has outsold me at the last two shows we have been to. However, I do have witnesses that I painted crabs before I knew him. (if you go to this link you will have to scroll down past the twin's first sonogram, but there is, indeed, a crab down there.)

I painted that crab because I was going to be doing a show in South Louisiana and I knew that it would be popular down there. (and it did sell, by the way) That is the same reason I painted this guy...I will not only be in Covington again, this year, but I will also be at the Peter Anderson Festival in Ocean Springs...another venue where seafood in general, will be popular.

Plus, if you read my former post about the new artist I found that I admire greatly...Carole Foret...you will see that she has some great crab paintings and it just got me in a "crabby mood".