Island hopping in the Caribbean

Painting by the pool

      Gary and I decided to "treat" ourselves to a cruise last month.  We found a 10 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean embarking from Ft. Lauderdale.  It had two "at sea" days before and after visiting 5 islands, none of which we had been to.  We also liked the fact that each island we visited had a dock so we didn't need to be tendered into any of our ports.

      I decided to take my assorted watercolor blocks, pens, and my traveling watercolor pallette instead of trying to handle wet oils in our close quarters.  I haven't used watercolors very much recently as I have been doing a lot of "plein air " painting so I had to get use to my watercolors again.  I forgot how much I enjoy the fluid effects of watercolors and the "drizzly" effects of pen and ink.  It was a great medium for the Caribbean waterscapes.   At each island, I took digital photos of things that appealed to me and then I downloaded them onto my laptop and painted from the photos on the pool deck.  I did 8 paintings, 2 8x10's and 6 6x8's.  Lots of people stopped at the table to see what I was doing, so it was "almost" like plein air painting.  I sold 2 paintings that provided a "one-of-a- kind" gift for some fellow cruisers.

Antigua Shopping Mall  6x8

St Croix Bay 6x8

Some of my favorite observations were the beautiful color change in the bays, from a transparent aqua in the shallow areas, to a beautiful deep blue in the distance.  I loved the colorful buildings in the shopping areas and all the "buzz" of the busy shoppers.  I also came to the conclusion that palm trees are very challenging to interpret.  There is a fine line between not enough and too much info.  Here is my gallery of island observations. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Tortolla Bay  8x10

Bobbing boats at Tortolla  6x8

Old French Fort at Martinique  6x8

Beach Umbrellas at St Maarten  8x10

Shopping Tents at the Clock Tower, St. Croix  6x8

All the island watercolors will be posted on my website with prices and availability.