"Old Village Charm - Hibbon Street"

6"x8" Oil on Linen Panel

it was a rather blustery and chilly day but one can't get over the fact that there is such charm and beauty in this lovely little village.  

This was my latest plein air painting with fellow artists friends, 

Leslie Pratt-Thomas and Elizabeth Middour

"Red Rooftops of Charleston" SOLD

4"x12" Oil on Linen Canvas  sold

This was a spectacular day to be out plein air painting with fellow artist friends, Janie Ball and Fallon Donahoo!

"Fulton V" SOLD

12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel painted en plein air on location

SOLD at Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

One of Charleston's most charming restaurants, Fulton V (Five) is also one of Charleston's finest serving incredible Italian-American Cuisine in a most intimate setting. 

Fulton V's charm and style is exemplified through its street-side facade and I wanted to capture it as the sun set before the dinner hour.

Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

177 King Street

Charleston SC 29401

www.haganfineart.com

"Clementine Still Life" SOLD

12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel painted from life alla prima
sold at Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

Yesterday it took me over 2-1/2 hours to set up the still life and make it just right in order
to paint, "Crystal & Cotton" (previous post). 

I was bringing in all types of items to place with the cotton still life and happened to have this silver kettle and china plate and three pretty orange clementines and noticed what a beautiful little painting they would make on their own.  So it was my plan to set up again this morning to paint what inspired me yesterday during yesterday's painting.

Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio
177 King Street
Charleston SC 29401

www.haganfineart.com

"Crystal & Cotton Still Life" SOLD

20"x10" Oil on Linen Canvas  sold
SOLD at Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

Painted Alla Prima using fresh bloomed cotton picked out of a field found outside of Sumter, SC

Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio
177 King Street
Charleston SC 29401

www.haganfineart.com

"Beach Day Discoveries" SOLD

12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel - From the "Discoveries" Series  sold

SOLD at the Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

177 King Street

Charleston SC 29401

www.haganfineart.com

"Sweet Grass Tidal Creek" Gifted

8"x6" Oil on Linen Birch Panel   NFS  - gifted

This is a sweet little Plein Air painting I did at the Shem Creek Park a couple of weeks ago.  It was such a pretty day; a bit cooler than normal but the sun kept you quite warm.  Very comfortable for a November day.

Also November marks the time when lowcountry sweet grasses transition from summer green into striking fuchsia-colored sprays.

Each season in the Lowcountry has its own bounty of glorious color!

"Charleston Library Society" SOLD

9"x12" Oil on Linen Birch Board Panel, painted En Plein Air on location - King Street Charleston, SC

The Dappled light on the steps, framed by these beautiful Ginko trees 

captured my eye and had to be painted!

This was painted on a beautiful Wednesday  and sold on Friday thanks to 

the Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

177 King Street

Charleston, SC  29401

My Latest Plein Air Paintings - Some Still In Progress

These Plein Air Paintings were painted on site in an Alla Prima fashion and have not been retouched (yet).  I may go back into some of these to touch up.  

I simply wanted to post some of which I have been painting in the past few weeks and months since I haven't been able to post anything in a while (with Hurricane Matthew forcing my family and I to evacuate, and then the household has been battling sickness. . . it's been quite a time!)

Thanks for your patience!

"After the Storm (Sullivan's Island Shack)" 9"x12" Oil on Linen panel
painted just after returning back to Charleston after evacuating to get out of Hurricane Matthew

"Beach Path" 8"x10" Oil on Linen Panel

Geranium Window Flower Box 6"x8" Oil on ReyMar Panel painted on site from life at my friend, Elizabeth's, Front porch

"New Discoveries" a commissioned painting 9"x12" Oil on Linen Panel

Tree Study at Fort Moultrie's Field 6"x8" Oil on Linen Panel painted en plein air on location

"Field Path" 8"x10" Oil on Linen Panel

"Sweet Grass Tidal Creek" 8"x6" Oil on Linen Panel 

painted en plein air on location at Shem Creek Park

"Tidal Pool Discoveries" 12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel

"Windswept" or "Color Guard"? 12"x12" Oil on Linen panel

"New Discoveries" SOLD

12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel  sold

A sister and brother exploring the beach's title pools and all its wonder one morning.

I may continue to work on this and add a bit of dark values to make the focal point pop a bit more

It Was A BUSY Wednesday!

"Sullivan's Island Beach Path" 8"x10" Oil on Linen Panel
painted En Plein Air on location at Fort Moultrie's Field, Sullivan's Island

"Sullivan's Island Beach Path" was my second painting of the day. . . the sun was high but I just couldn't waste the beautiful sunshine and had to paint another!

"Wind Swept" 12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel
painted en plein air on location at the edge of the Fort Moultrie Field
on Sullivan's Island, SC

"Wind Swept" was almost titled "The Field Beyond" or "Flower Guardian" (because of all the wild flowers growing in the shade of this tree. . there were a million butterflies all over the place!  

It was so beautiful!

Taken with a flash

My set up at the Boardwalk Inn at Wild Dunes on the Isle O Palms, SC

I was asked to represent the Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio and demo-paint Wednesday afternoon at the Boardwalk Inn for the guests.  It was fun and it allowed me to get a good start on another painting I have titled, "New Discoveries" 12"x12" Oil on Linen Panel

Tanvi Pathare Portrait Workshop

 September has been a very exciting and busy time for me as has this entire year!

I was fortunate enough to have participated in a Portrait Workshop 

Young Beauty   24"x18" Oil on Linen

here in Charleston, SC with Tanvi Pathere.  

Tanvi Pathere is native of Mumbai, India but now lives in Florence, Italy where she is a Premier Instructor at the Florence Academy of Art.

Still Waters Run Deep 24"x18" Oil on Linen

The instruction was second to none and I thoroughly enjoyed Tanvi's expertise.  It is my hope that I sit under her instruction again.

SOLD! "Creek's Low Tide"

Thanks to the Hagan Fine Art Gallery on State Street in Charleston, SC, for finding a new home for "Creek's Low Tide!"

"Chloe's Lemonade Stand III"

14"x11" Oil on Linen Panel sold


This is a popular scene at the Farmer's Market in the heart of Cashiers North Carolina to the point that "Chloe's Lemonade Stand" is becoming an iconic landmark.

"Fourth Floor View - Pinckney Inn"

16"x20" Oil on Linen Canvas painted en plein air on location from the fourth floor of the 

Andrew Pinckney Inn's Refreshment Porch

Go to their site and you'll see where I stood while painting this 

(except that I chose the other view 180 degrees):

http://www.andrewpinckneyinn.com/?gclid=CPXqu6KUhc8CFVc8gQod5rQEYg&ef_id=V9QshAAABWAoTp8q:20160910155340:s

available through the Hagan Fine Art Gallery
177 King Street
Charleston, SC  29401

www.haganfineart.com

laura@haganfineart.com

"Plein Air Wednesdays"

"Charleston's Industrial Side" 8"x10" Oil on Claybord painted En Plein Air, Alla Prima on location near the Historical Bennett Rice Mill at the Ports Authority in Charleston, SC

 http://www.scspa.com/our-impact/preserving-history/bennett-rice-mill-facade/

Orange Still Life Studies

Painting Study of Orange Slices  8"x6" Oil on Linen Panel 

Plein Air Painting with friends on her front porch painting a still life study of fresh orange slices and her favorite enamel mug.

  

Still Life Study of Orange Slices and Enamel Mug on Cutting Board

10"x10" Oil on Linen Panel

Took the study a little further with this one

"Together"

"Together" 22"x28" Oil on Linen Canvas - Sold

"Together" is one of a dozen of paintings being featured at the Real Estate Studio, a Hagan Fine Art Special Art Exhibit on display through September 13, 2016.

I'll be painting en plein air street-side at the Real Estate Studio during Second Sunday on King

September 11th at 214 King Street, Downtown Charleston

Come on out, I'd love to see you!

"Winston!" NFS

8"x6" Oil on Linen Panel painted alla prima of my friend's old time friend, Winston.  Winston is a faithful boating companion and I captured him seated in their lake boat. This was gifted to her as my thank you for hosting me during the Cashiers Plein Air Festival.

"Tranquil At Last"

12"x12" Oil on Canvas, painted en plein air, alla prima in Castine Maine.  Available - contact the artist: artistmlh@yahoo.com

This Main Street of Castine was particularly beautiful and I especially loved the light as the sun dipped low behind the hill above. The exquisite Castine charm that one experienced in her people seemed summed up in this streetscape.

Little did I know until after I had painted this, that up until about three weeks prior to this paint out, the town revamped and overhauled this entire street when it buried the power lines and tore up and repaved the sidewalks and street.  The overhaul had some of her residents a little upset but when it was all said and done, the town beamed with pride and shined brighter than ever.  

Tranquility had returned!

Available

"Just the Two of Us" SOLD

8"x10" Oil on Linen Panel, Painted en plein air, alla prima in Castine, ME.  sold

"Homeward Bound"

8"x10" Oil on Linen panel, painted en plein air, alla prima in Castine, ME
Available - at the Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio  www.haganfineart.com

"Hello Sunshine!" SOLD

8"x6" Oil on Linen Panel,  sold
painted en plein air, alla prima, in Castine, Maine at one of the most glorious gardens I've ever had the privilege in which to paint!

A close up.  

While I was in Castine Maine this past July painting in their Paint-Out, I was invited by my host's next-door neighbor to come "behind the curtain" into the husband & wife's gorgeous yard to paint their beloved gardens.  

Wow!  The gardens they created were magnificent! I was told by my host that they lived in Philadelphia in the heart of the city way up in a highrise apartment and never owned a pot of soil! And they designed it, laid it all out all by themselves!  They achieved quite an incredible task!

When they purchased their home in Castine, they explained that it was just a box of a house on a rectangle lot: boring!

So being the researchers that they are (I believe they are University Professors) they went to work researching which plants would thrive in that zone and designed sections around their house breaking up the expansive, boring space into several different beautiful gardens.  

Their backyard looked very Zen-like with its neat and tidy spaces of sculptural grasses and rock walls and paths. Their side yard reflected the upper New England picket fences and flowers, but their front yard was an explosion of color and most of that color came from a hillside filled with several varieties of daffodils!  This variety was the largest and most yellow and I was drawn to it because of its sculptural quality as well as the fact that it was so "sunny" and made me happy.

That front yard of theirs was so colorful and plush that it was the landmark that the locals used in order to explain directions to places in relation to it: 

". . . you'll come to the top of the hill and a little to your right you'll see the house with the magnificent front garden. . "

I know that I was invited inside a well kept secret; not one that many are privy to. It is a special thing to be allowed to see inside someone's private sanctuary, but even more so to capture a part of it on canvas.

 

Sold at the Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

27-1/2 State Street

Charleston SC 29401

www.haganfineart.com

"Dennett's Wharf"

"Dennett's Wharf" 12"x12" Oil on Linen

Painted En Plein Air, Alla Prima, on location in Castine ME at the Wharf

available at Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio

www.haganfineart.com

(843) 901-8124

"Next In Line" SOLD

 My final (and probably favorite) painting of the Castine Plein Air Festival before the show

 The experience painting in Castine Maine was incredible!  

The light was amazing and the people were gracious and quick with a smile.

"Next In Line" 12"x12" Oil on Linen sold

painted en plein air, alla prima on location at Eaton's Boat Yard during the Castine Plein Air Festival

Ironically, after this was titled "Next In Line" I found out that the owner of this boat yard, Kenny, is quoted as always telling his boat clients that their floats will be set soon because it is "next in line. . . "

"Secret Garden Angel" SOLD

10"x10" Oil on Linen Canvas sold  painted en plein air, alla prima on site

A beautiful garden begged to be painted and its treasured guardian angel too.

"Southern Elegance Art Show"

"Southern Elegance"

A Hagan Fine Art Gallery & Studio Show

will be on display at the

Real Estate Studio

214 King Street

Charleston, SC

August 3, thru  September 13, 2016