Sunny Days! "Won't You Tell Me How to Get to..." Plein Air Street

Embrace The Sunshine

My painting setup - sunny & wonderful!

Living up north means cold winters and snow and lots of dreary grey days - I really start missing my sunshine. Last week the weather finally turned around and I found myself emailing friends asking if they wanted to plein air paint in the 60s Sunshine. One friend and I were able to meet up, and it was glorious & inspiring!

Red Reflection 8x10 Greenfield Village

My friend had passes to the historical Greenfield Village and I could not pass up the opportunity to see what it was all about. We walked around for two hours, she was a fabulous tour-guide as we explored the working farm, the animal areas, the industrial areas (my fave) and all of the historical buildings (so many!). Of course, she also knew that we had to stop for a lemonade at the Tavern, what a fun experience.

After seeing all of the acreage, we had to decide on a place to paint. Did I want to paint the Cotswold cottage, the train station, the carousel, the Red farmhouse, the Robert Frost house, the schoolhouse, the church, the tavern --well yes! But I had to chose one, there was almost too much to chose from, one could go there every day of the week for the summer and still not run out of material to paint! Of course, perfect sunny weather helped tremendously.


Early on I decided that I liked the Industrial Area-- there were many facades and buildings located around a pond and that appealed to me. I think I ended up painting a sawmill -- I will have to look at the map (acres and acres of goodness here). I chose this barn-like subject because I loved the color reflection in the pond - a bright lovely pink reflection. I loved the shape of the red building and the purple-ish shadow patterns that the bright sun created. I chose to not have much sky and to have the building fill up most of the canvas. I loved the vertical streetlight in front of the building and the pattern of the log fence around the pond. The entire experience was wonderful and I am happy with my light, form and color painting.

I started setting up to paint at about 1 pm and had to leave by 330 pm. Unfortunately, this painting is not finished, it is about 75% done. I wanted to go back and add the sunlit highlights to the building and to lighten the sky and work a bit on the roof. Overall, I am happy with this little painting, maybe because of the day and surroundings when the painting was created!

Supposed to be nice weather again this week, I will email friends and go out and plein air paint tomorrow!

Get Busy

Improving As an Artist

A maybe-potential Urban Landscape reference pic...

I want to become a better artist and I think this means that I have to get busy (busier). I recently heard an established artist say "You can only compete with yourself, making your next painting better than your last." I agree with that statement although I feel there is much work ahead for me. So what will I do about that?

I have signed up for an Urban Landscape painting class. This takes me out of my comfort zone as I have focused mainly on portraiture these last few years. I also want to work with an instructor as I have many landscape questions. I do not have much material (reference photographs) for this class, but I really want to challenge myself creatively and learn something that is not portrait related/outside my comfort zone.

I have also signed up for a one day portrait workshop. I do not know the instructor but I just want to see if there is some new information or inspiration that I can glean about portraiture. Particularly important to me as I continue to paint from life twice a week.

Three hours a week on Urban Landscape plus the 6 hours a week in life portrait (no instruction) seems a good fit. It is important to emphasize that my painting time is not limited to the studio and class times. I have to work from home to improve as an artist. Too often I hear (in class and at the studio) artists complaining about weaknesses and unfinished works - more often than not these are the people who do not work at home. "Work" is a key word and improvement will never come if you do not work and challenge yourself at home, it is a must!

So, I work at home, take classes, work at studio AND belong to a great community art group. If there is an art group in your community I highly encourage you to join - I love seeing what other artists are working on and the newsletter is informative about art happenings and shows!

Yes, I will be busy, and it has to be that way, making art and improving is a full time job!