Step by Step

I've been working in my studio all winter (I'm not an extreme plein air painter, sorry) but sketches and photos have been getting me through. The weather is changing, though, and I hope to get out again in the next month.
Here's a painting from sketches done in Alaska.

"Bones of the Earth"  watercolor   15" x 22"

Sketch in pencil

First pass. Keeping it loose and soft.

Defining values and shapes

Final pass. 

The Wild Life

I have never thought of plein air painting as particularly dangerous. Unless, perhaps, you twist an ankle while hiking to a prime spot. Or get drenched on an "iffy" weather day and wind up with a cold.

But last week a friend and I were painting just off a major road and had chosen a lovely stone bridge that crosses a small stream. We were quite proud of our spot. It had good subject matter, shade, and room for parking on the verge. In fact the only thing lacking was a bathroom (plenty of woods around, though).

As I focussed on my canvas, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a black bear appear, sauntering off the bridge and heading my way! Not a baby bear, not a juvenile bear, but a big, full grown and very healthy looking adult black bear.

I said, in a low voice, "A bear…" and we started to back toward our cars. I reached into my bag to get my camera, but it was tangled up and wouldn't come out! The bear strolled forward a few steps, glanced our way, the turned (not speeding up or slowing down) and ambled into the woods on the other side of the road.

My camera finally came out of the bag and I turned and looked at Nancy. She had her phone out, ready to snap a pic, and said, "I didn't get one either. Nobody will believe us."

The rest of the day we painted while periodically looking over our shoulders!

Bear Bridge Off 611  9x12 oil on canvas

Plein Air with Friends

Nothing like getting outdoors with friends and doing what comes naturally - painting!

I roam around Bucks County at least two times a week, loaded up with painting gear, hunting for that perfect landscape. The fact is that a good artist can find a good painting no matter where they look, so spending time looking for the perfect composition is wasted time - time that could be spent painting.  One of the artist's jobs is to rearrange the elements of the scene to MAKE it a better composition.

Sometimes a good exercise is to close your eyes, turn around a few times then open them. Then, create your painting from whatever happens to be in front of you. Do it enough and it will get you out of the habit of seeking that ready-made landscape.

This week the Bucks County Plein Air Painters visited one of Bucks County's covered bridges. The Loux Bridge is unusual in that it is white rather than red as are most of the others. Constructed in 1874 of hemlock, it sits over Cabin Run Creek.

The weather was perfect! We parked ourselves on the side of the road and spent the morning painting. My friends worked in oil, but I decided to try a small watercolor. I was working on Arches 140 lb. paper and am fairly happy with the way it turned out.

"Loux Covered Bridge, Bucks County" 9x12 watercolor

Wayne Plein Air

The show is over and the week in Wayne, PA painting in the Wayne Plein Air Festival was quite an experience!

Well organized and held in an area rich with subject matter, the only thing that didn't cooperate was the weather. We had rain off and on for all but two days and I discovered that I don't do my best work crammed into a car while the rain pours outside. You can't get any distance on your work!

The evening of the first day was an orientation of the area, with suggested properties to visit (owners had given permission to paint there). I spotted several roadside views, but parking like that is always a problem. Safety is a concern in that kind of situation.

The next two days were full of thunderstorms, but I still managed to create three paintings. Ridley State Park was where I settled after checking out a number of new areas.

Thursday was the only truly sunny day and I painted on the side of Darby Paoli Road, and spent most of the day at Androssan Farm. This is the last of the big estates in Radnor area and was used as the basis for the movie "Philadelphia Story" starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart. We had special permission to roam around the estate which is normally closed to the public. It will soon be broken up and sold off (so sad!).

Friday was a wash out…literally… as it poured rain all day. Streets were flooded and I took that time to do more framing.

By Saturday I was exhausted! That morning we were to paint in town. My effort was a real stinker, so I didn't even bother to turn it in.

The opening truly WAS "gala" with champaign, wine, a feast of dishes, and lots of sales. Approximately 180 artists applied, 31 were chosen, and they produced over 250 works of art! The paintings will stay up through July at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA.

Oh! And I got and Honorable Mention!

Along Darby-Paoli Road   9x12   pastel on sanded paper

It sounded like a good idea at the time……..

One of the reasons I was interested in exploring pastel (aside from the fact that it was new to me) was because of my interest in plein air painting. And one of the things the plein air painter is always trying to do is to lighten the load. Since everything one uses must be carried, it behooves the artist to have as little equipment as possible.

With pastels, I thought, I can eliminate all the liquids that have to be carried with oils or watercolors. After all, fluids are heavy.

Silly me.

What I failed to take into account was the fact that by carrying only 5-6 tubes of color I can have full range of colors. But…… and this is a BIG BUT…….with pastels you must have dozens and dozens (even hundreds) of sticks, each a different color, in order to have a full range. And those sticks add up to a lot of weight.

And so it would seem to be a wash in the weight department. BUT……pastels are fast! Really fast! There is no drying time between layers of color or at the end, when you pack up.

So, I continue to explore pastels as a painting medium... and have started to exercise to build up some muscle……..

"Clear Day Today" 5x8  Just a sketch of a tree I see on my daily walk (exercise!).

New Beginnings

They say that new challenges will keep you young…..well, we'll see about that!
It may just give me more gray hair.

I have decided to learn more about pastel and am experiencing the pains of a steep learning curve.

Let's see where it goes!

Touched by Fall    8x10   pastel on Canson paper

Color Theory Fun 2

My last "three colors and white" experiment turned out so well I decided to try it again (coulda' been a fluke, right?). But, this time I decided to try a different blue, one that I used a few times long ago and then abandoned because the results were so horrific. Prussian Blue.

So I dug around in my old supplies and came up with the crumpled metal tube that was my Prussian Blue from so long ago. When I do experiments like this, it is one of the few times I am glad I am a pack rat.

Cad. Yellow.........Cad. Red.........Prussian Blue........White

Clouds in Prussian Blue    8"x8"

Prussian Blue has won me over! Why did I hate it before? It's strong and can get out of hand if you are not careful, but what dynamite skies and green fields it makes. By using only three primary colors and white it becomes a much easier to achieve color harmony. 

Sometimes less is more!

Color Theory Fun

I love color theory, and though most of what I have learned usually confirms something I had already stumbled across, I am always up to trying something new. Or in this case, something old and very basic.

The first thing you learn in color theory is that ALL colors are made up of the basic three: Red, Yellow, Blue. Bear in mind that we are talking about mixing pigment here, not light.

                                  So here is my quick study using only three colors and white.
                     Cadmium Red......Cadmium Yellow........Ultramarine Blue.......Titanium White

Pine Tree Study in Three Colors

And, by golly, it works! With those three colors I was able to get a full range of palette colors.

Now, I won't be tossing out all my other beloved colors, but it does mean that I can be more confident about lightening the load when I take to field and forest in search of a good spot for plein air painting! The fewer colors I carry the lighter my pack. More to come.

Watercolor Play

Decided to drag out my watercolors and do some small paintings this week. They are almost like color sketches and are looser than my oils. Very liberating! When I go back to the oils I hope to carry over some of that looseness and intuitive way of working.

"Little House on the Rocks"  watercolor   4x6

"Mid Winter Snow"   watercolor   7x9

"Outbuildings"   watercolor   7x9

Visit to the Big City

Just picked up a couple of paintings at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. They were submitted to the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Annual Members Show (now that's a mouthful) and hung at the club for several weeks.

Getting in and out of the city was easier than I thought it would be, not painful at all, and the visit to an environment much different from what I am used to was stimulating! But, it did make me appreciate where I do live at lot more!

Vanishing Woodlands - 20x24  oil on canvas

Blustery Day - 20x24  oil on canvas

Spring Means New Challenges

I've been entering a few competitions lately. Sometimes I get in, sometimes I don't. But each time I get a little more comfortable with the process. Though I have been working mainly in oils I decided to enter the National Society for Painters in Casein and Acrylic's annual juried show. Sent my CD with the digital image in yesterday. We'll see if anything comes of it.....

"What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Thumb Butte, AZ"   11x15  acrylic

Tip: When using acrylics, if you want to paint a large area of uniform color (like my sky, here) you will need to mix up a large amount before you begin to paint it. Acrylics dry so fast that if you mix as you go (like I usually do) you will wind up with spotty passages of color since it will be almost impossible to blend.

Time to get out of my rut!

Occasionally, I find myself falling into ruts. So sometimes I must take action to break out!

#1. I adore landscape and the natural format for that is a horizontal one. I find it hard to remember the last time I did a vertical. I will step out of that comfort zone and do a landscape painting, but use a vertical format.

#2. Most of my skies are in the medium to light value range. I have it stuck in my head that a dark sky means twilight or night. I will use a dark intense value scheme, but still try to convey that it is in full sun.

#3. I have a very difficult time conveying a feeling of size or "bigness" when working in a small format. So I will try to convey a feeling of something enormous, even though I am working on a small canvas.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out and feel like I have new "arrows in my quiver" when it comes to landscape painting.  What do you think?

"Monumental"  12x16  oil on canvas

Little Bit of Heaven

I always encourage anyone who will listen to visit Alaska if they get a chance.  I have seen no landscape more spectacular. Denali guides get to see such sights as this, painted from several photos my son brought back from one of his expeditions.
I was struck by the graphic, abstract qualities of the landscape and tried to think of composition before subject matter. I will probably never make it to this altitude in reality, but maybe I can get there on canvas.

Josh's Office   9" x 12"  oil on canvas

A Moment in Time

Conventional wisdom by conventional artists says that morning light is cool and afternoon light is warm. But the other morning, as I started out on my morning walk, I hadn't even gotten out of the driveway before I was stopped in my tracks by the light shining on a group of tree trunks. They were lit with an intense reddish light that was made all the more dramatic by the cool blues in the mist shrouded background.
I couldn't get it out of my head and so I painted it as best I could. I wish I could paint with light instead of pigments so that everyone could see what I saw.

September Morning Light   16" x 20"

Sometimes conventional wisdom needs to be ignored.......

I've got four hours....so paint!

Hiking in Trexler Nature Preserve is always a balm to the soul. This painting is done from sketches and photos taken on the trail. Deep summer is SO green....but there are a thousand different greens. I recently read that the human eye can see 10,000 different colors. How marvelous!! I will bite my tongue the next time I am tempted to complain about the color "monotony" of a scene.

Initial sketch in yellow ochre on a toned canvas.

After two hours of painting.

After four hours of painting.

At the two hour point things slowed down considerably. When I reach that point in a painting decisions become more critical, and so I become more careful. I put the painting away and let it "rest" overnight. Next day I studied it again (with fresh eyes), made a mark here or there, then signed it. Done!

The painting is 16" x 20".

Earthquakes, Hurricanes and Flooding, Oh My!

I made it back safe from Alaska (no problems coming back) and what do I find when I get home? First, an earthquake. Then, a hurricane. Cleanup from the flooding is going to delay me painting so many of the wonderful landscape scenes I encountered on my visit north.

I did sneak off for a few hours to paint a quick sky study and decided to see how close in value and how neutral in color I could make it and still have it "read" well. I tend to go for bolder colors and values that range from 1 - 10, so I thought this would be a good exercise for me. Did I succeed?

Grey Day Above    9" x 12"

Keep It Soft

The Clouds Roll In  8x10

Hay Days  8x10

 

Evening Falls  8x10

I have grown more interested in atmospheric effects as of late. Most of my works were concerned with the landscape and its varied appearances, but lately I have started to look up and see how interesting the sky can be.

I, also, have always painted in terms of sharp contrast and strong color. So with these three little studies I set out to keep the paintings soft and undefined for as long as possible. How much information can you convey without getting specific?

It turns out, quite a lot! These little paintings were done, almost exclusively, with a #10 flat brush. Only at the finish did I use a small round brush (#2) to make a few small lines and to sign my name.

*Tip: As long as you keep the edges soft, it is easy to make changes and suggest shapes. As soon as you put down a hard edge, you "pin it down". But, if a painting is all soft edges it can look mushy, and all hard edges can get boring. So beware of going too far in one direction or the other.

Daisies

I don't do too many flower paintings (hardly any) because they often seem too sweet or pretty. But to do one is not easy! Here's a quick study of daisies that I found growing out in the pasture. I find that it is very hard to avoid cliche's when doing flowers. Especially when dealing with daisies!

Daisy Study   6" x 8"

I Got an Award!

Kennesaw Pair    9"x12"

This weekend I entered this painting into an art show in the area and got an" Honorable Mention"! I'm so encouraged and wish I could paint all day, but......every time I put something down I lose it and this lets me know that the clutter has gotten so bad around here that it is beginning to act as camouflage. So today I clean up, then tomorrow I will paint. I always feel more relaxed and creative when my studio is straightened up anyway.

Maybe next time it a blue ribbon.

Plein Air in Carversville

I and three friends from the workshop that I recently took traveled to Carversville, PA and we spent a morning and part of the afternoon painting and enjoying the out of doors. We stopped to eat lunch at the General Store and had such a pleasant day we are going back again next week.

First order of business, Gather up all the gear. Pochade box, paints, brushes, medium, tripod, chair (if I need it. I usually paint standing), dry carriers, and camera. What you don't see is my big hat and sunblock (essential!).

We met in town, scoped out the area, and found lots of painting material.

Streams and woods.

A stone bridge crossing the stream.

A heavily backlit red barn.

Ok,ok,.....I know everybody and his brother has painted a red barn. But, the building adds structure to the chaos of nature and I like the backlighting. Never tried that before.

So I painted it!

In 1 1/2 hours I gathered enough info to paint a larger work if I wanted to, and though the shapes are somewhat awkward, it was the light I was concerned with and I am happy with what I learned.

No, she's not doing a painting of the back of her car.

When you can find a spot where you can use the back of your car as a taboret it is luxury plein air! Having a hatchback works great, too.    *Tip:You can actually paint in the rain with canvas and paints in the back, while you stand under the hatchback door.....unless you are super tall.

Painting the back of the Carversville Inn.

The light on a stone bridge was dramatic.

   In the afternoon the bugs descended and all the Off! in the world couldn't keep them away, but all in all, not a bad day!!