Spine of the Earth - and Me Vs. Target

 Spine of the Earth

Oil on canvas, 18x24

commission

I've made this painting a few times now, and every time I make it, I think it gets better - and more interesting.

The original painting was a plein-air piece I made on Ocracoke Island, off the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was on the way home from that trip that I stumbled into Wachapreague. That detour started a series of events that involved me quitting my job at Patch.com, and ended with us moving to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

I went to the Outer Banks that October thinking that I wanted to paint the ocean, and the place where the ocean met the sand. Instead, I found myself mesmerized by the dunes. They rose and fell like breathing. Pulsed like the earth dancing. Shifted and churned like waves turned nearly solid. The wind blew hard the entire time I was on the Outer Banks and Ocracoke, and I could see it sculpting the dunes, carving them, moving them, grain by grain by grain.

I loved the wild romp of colors, the bright, sun-glinting sand, the deep maroon of some beachy scrub, a million shades of green and gold and tan in the grasses, and all of it churning and swirling and waving in the wind.

Every time I approach this painting again, I capture more and more of that feeling. I see more colors, feel more pulses, paint the wind and sky and rhythmic dunes with more verve and more abandon. Perhaps next fall, I'll go back to the Outer Banks and paint on site again.

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LOOKING FOR INSPIRED Christmas/ Hanukkah presents? Why not buy them from me? I'll appreciate it so much more than Target or Macy's ever would.

For $12.99, you can get a really nice 2015 calendar showcasing 12 of my California Calling paintings. Click here to go to the Lulu site, where you can buy a calendar or 10.  

For $22.79 and up, you can get a book of my writings and paintings from the California Calling Painting Extravaganza. Click here to go to the Blurb site, where you can see all the options and buy a book or two. 

For $50 and up, you can sponsor my upcoming painting trip, the Origins trip. I'll be going back to Fort Defiance, AZ, where I spent my first couple years, and I'll paint the land in and around the town. There are a whole bunch of options, and I promise you will love the blog and the paintings I make! Click here to go to the Jacobson Arts website, where you can find out more, and become a sponsor.

And finally, you can always buy a painting from me, or give a gift certificate for a regular painting or a pet portrait. Check out the Jacobson Arts website, or drop me an email at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com, to find out more.

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Dog of the Day

When I was in Winnsboro, TX, last month I went out painting early one morning. Afterwards, I drove around the neighborhood, just to see a little more. There was pretty much no traffic - just this one truck driving down the drive and out toward the road.... with the farm dog racing alongside. He went as far as the mailbox, then stopped, watched the truck drive away, and headed back toward home.