Rena Powell

I got the idea for this from several pictures that I took at the Southport Pirate Regatta.   I took lots of pictures that day, but, I really like these navigational bouys.  This buoy, number three, is near the inlet entrance between Oak Island and Bald Head and it guides all the huge cargo ships that come through the channel.

This painting is in honor of my favorite childhood book, "Watership Down"  I love to pick it up and read it again every few years.  I am hoping to donate it to the "First Book" silent auction fund-raiser. First Book is a non-profit that buys books for needy children  (for some of the children it will be the first book that they own)  The event is Feb. 6th and 7th at the Children's Museum in Wilmington, NC.

This was taken on a beautiful summer day, and you could see some young kids springing off the porch with their surfboards.  It's a nice image to recall in the middle of winter.

This is a local shrimp boat called "Poor Boy". One day old work boats like these will be a thing of the past so I try to appreciate them while they are here. This one has interesting colored trim and I liked the way the reflection in the water lit up the shadow side in this picture that I took last summer.

I used to sail on a laser about a hundred years ago so I liked this scene in Banks Channel, Wrightsville Beach, NC.

This is a chicken farm in North Carolina that uses on old school bus in a field for a chicken coup and I think it makes an unique, offbeat, little composition. I've painted it before in a vertical format and I wanted to see how it would work out in a square. I like the solid feel of a square and I think it works for this scene.

I love the red jib sail on this boat and I love the color of the brightwork. When I was painting the back of the boat, I tried to capture the reflection of the shiny rudder onto the transom. I also liked the relaxed posture of the guy - his hand just resting on the tiller. He's really kicked back and enjoying his boat.

I took pictures last summer of my husband working in the backyard and composed and painted this from several of them. He loves working in the yard and he loves our chickens. We are having a countdown of days until spring because we can't wait to get out there and work on our garden again.

I've painted this boat house before, but, never in a horizontal format and I like the way it turned out. The scene itself is so expansive when you go to this spot. The marsh just spreads out forever in all directions. It's probably my favorite place to paint plein air.

This subject is an old favorite of mine to paint. It's a local man that sails more often than anybody I know. He can been seen in the waterway almost everyday when I'm walking around Southport. My husband actually met him the other day and got his number so that I can show him all the paintings I've done of him - actually, just photos of the paintings. I only have the one I did today because all the others have sold. I guess it is a beautiful boat to everyone else, as well.

I'm starting to try some slightly larger pieces and this composition just struck my fancy. Not sure if it has any marketing value, but, I had fun with it. I worked on it off and on over the weekend, because there was some things bothering me about it. My neighbor, who for years kept a flock of sheep in Conn., came over and described how thick their wool was. She said you could put your hand into their wool up the wrist and said that it needed to look thicker. So, I worked more texture into the wool. Then, I painted the sky darker behind the ewe's head and it really helped it to stand out. So with a little help I finally finished it.

I love this old historic boat house on the Outer Banks. I found this old frame at an antique store and made this painting to go with it. It just reminded me of the colors and the architecture in the building.