After visiting a Mangrove Swamp on Sanibel island I became (almost) obsessive in my desire to paint these. The Mangrove swamps throughout Florida have many functions some of which are to act as a barrier to the winds that storms such as hurricanes bring to our area. These swamps can receive the brunt of the high winds which in turn acts to slow them down somewhat before they reach the mainland.
This will be a demo on what one can see behind the Mangroves. This is 12 x 9 on heavy linen paper - using Chroma Interactive acrylics - wet into wet - alla prima - with brushes and a fair amount of gusto and emotion in strokes.
First I throw in the sky.
This demo will be mostly about developing the land mass which in most cases is behind the mangrove swamp and along the coastal waterways out in front - becoming a very unprotected piece of land.
It is truly a swamp with the vegetation sitting (standing) in salt water for most of its existence. The next series of photos will show the development of this "swamp"
In order to push back the swamp land I will generate a palm tree in the foreground using both brush and palette knife. I like to mix the use of brush work and palette knife work in the same painting as I feel it gives the painting life and movement.
I will also "tweak" the "ground clutter" in around and in front of the palm trunk.
DETAIL
I hope you enjoyed this demo as much as I enjoyed painting it.
I'll return next week with another demo - in the meantime Google MANGROVE SWAMP
it is a fascinating subject and there is a lot in information on the web.
Did you know that the mangrove tree has a built in desalination system in its roots that extracts the salt from the water before it enters the root system.
Did you know that mangrove trees are not very solidly positioned in the "MUCK" that they sit in so they send "ROOT SHOOTS" straight down from the branches above that in turn root themselves into the "MUCK" thereby giving the tree a much stronger "foot hold" with which to withstand the hurricane force winds.
As I say, Google"MANGROVE SWAMPS" there is a lot you can learn.
JR :>)
