Hurricane Ian devastated my hometown in South West Florida. I felt led by the Spirit to do a series of paintings of the iconic landscapes in those towns for auction to benefit hurricane relief.

First, I did some google image searches. This photo of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse caught my eye. I felt my creative sparkle flying. So the following day, after dropping my children off at school, I went straight to my studio and started painting. 

Here is my painting process:

1 I used the direct painting method. That is, I drew an outline putting down the basic placements of the elements, then I painted directly on the canvas.

I chose the 30 inches by 40 inches canvas because I felt only a larger-sized ground could express the breathtaking beauty of the lighthouse and the island.

2 I picked out several shades of blue. I put down a thin layer of the blue sky first, then worked my way down to the house and beach scene. 

3 After the first acrylic base coat of the background sky dried (acrylic paints dry fast), I put down the second layer with more attention to detail. 

4 Using a ruler, I painted the lighthouse”s metal structure. I made sure the perspective was accurate. 

5 Time to paint the foreground, and that’s the fun part. I love using loose strokes to paint the sand, grasses, and palm tree leaves. The process was exhilarating!

6 The last layer added highlights, like the orange sunlight on the clouds, with oil paint. Oil paint is more saturated and intense than acrylic paint, so it is perfect for doing those highlights in this painting. 

I finished the whole painting just in time to pick my children up from school.  Sometimes with the right frame of mind plus a little luck, you will get the best workflow in your creative process. 

If you need some help with landscape painting, try my free tool — grid and greyscale, on my website.  It will help you with composition and finding the accurate value of your reference photo.

Just click here https://yingmclane.com/image-converter/

See you soon!

Ying

www.yingmclane.com

The post How I Painted This Big Canvas in One Day appeared first on Ying McLane.

Five years ago, we had hurricane Irma. 

We evacuated Ft. Myers on the last day and drove to Georgia with three little kids.  The roads were packed and the drive took twice the time it should have. 

Last year, we moved to the next town, Naples, FL, and we decided to hunker down this time.

Monday, September 26: I made the last groceries trip, filled up the gas, and anxiously checked on the latest hurricane movement. 

Tuesday: everything was calm, and we had hope rising in our hearts. We did a lot of praying for our house and city.

Wednesday morning: everything went downhill. We lost power early that morning. The wind was blowing like crazy and the rain poured in buckets The water kept rising in our backyard  I made a mental note of the water level on our play set ladder, and it slowly crept up.

But by the end of the day: we could sense the worst was over. Our backyard became a lake. But thankfully, water never made its way into our house.

We were very fortunate, but my heart hurt for the many people who suffered unimaginable loss.

Like my kid’s sweet violin teacher, the flooding was so dangerous that she had to get on her roof with her elderly father But thankfully, the rescue boat saved them both. 

The thought of the damage to her bright yellow house and her being homeless today made my heart ache.

This is why I am painting a series called “Florida Strong.”  It consists of the iconic scenery in my area. I plan to do a fundraiser, and all the proceeds will go to hurricane victims.

What is your hurricane story? Please feel free to share in the comments.

If you like to contribute to the FL Hurricane relief program, check out these links below

https://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief/hurricane-relief.html

https://www.volunteerflorida.org/donatefdf/

:https://www.floridadisaster.org/

To see my other artworks, go to https://yingmclane.com/modern-art/

See you soon!

Blessings!

Ying

The post Our Hurricane Ian Story appeared first on Ying McLane.