RED HOT SUNRISE BY Cecelia Lyden

OIL ON STRETCHED CANVAS

8X10

www.cecelialyden.com

lyden1819@comcast.net

A recent spell of oppressively hot weather and an upcoming art exhibit with a "Red Hot" theme motivated me to revisit the photos I took of these truly amazing sunrises on the Florida coast a past winter. The sky kept rapidly changing and the sun soon appeared on the horizon, so I felt fortunate that I was able to capture so many different color changes. There seemed be a beautiful sunrise almost every morning we were there. Two months of mornings provided me with scores of photos. Also, I am an early riser, otherwise I would have missed all of this.

Any of the paintings I did of these sunrises were done from my photos.Plein air was out of the question for me--too dark and the sky was changing too quickly. I must confess that I might have thought the colors were phony, if I had not seen the sunrises myself. I'm looking forward to returning to Florida this winter--for more dramatic skies.

HERBS AND SPICES By Cecelia Lyden

oil on stretched canvas
22x28

This brick building, bright red in the brilliant sunshine, is the home to The Rosemary House, a fresh herb and spice business that has been in Mechanicsburg, on the same street for decades. I painted this from a photo I took around the 80's. I loved the warm color of the brick and the arched passageway, which reminded me so much of the brick arched passageways in many Dutch genre paintings.

OTHER PAINTINGS DONE THIS SUMMER

HOT, HAZY VISTA

oil on stretched canvas

8x10

The weather forecast called for warm temperatures in the 90's. Our group was heading out for the Dickinson College Farm in Boiling Springs. I was a little relunctant to go because, I imagined myself sitting in a sun drenched field with no shade, inhaling ripe farm aromas and swatting buzzing insects. Thes are not the pleasures of plein air painting, but I had not been out much this month, so I dressed in white, light-weight clothing, and armed myself with a really high number sun lotion, a can of deep woods"bug spray and bottled water.

When I arrived, I noticed that Claire had on heavy jeans. I learned that she was trying to protect herself from ticks and poison ivy. I was tempted to bolt. I am highly susceptible to poison ivy and the thought of a tick boring itself in my leg grossed me out.

I stayed and we drove our cars up a bumpy, narrow tractor path to get a better view of the beautiful mountains, tilled fields and trees.

We found a perfect spot in the shade overlooking the fields and mountains. The serene setting coupled with a gentle breeze that kept us comfortable for nearly 3 hours made this a very pleasant paintout. I was working on a small canvas, so by the time the sun found me, I was ready to leave. I packed up everything, climbed in my air-condtioned car and drove home.