Plein Air Fest: What We Loved

Lady in Red, 9x12

One of my Mom's 'Gem Paintings', ah rocks!

Our painted works:

I felt that I painted two good works, with my hat storefront hat nocturne being my best work. My other favorite from the Train Depot, is the Lady in Red, I loved this little red car found in the train graveyard. Mom painted a small gem at the lake that had amazing rocks and water. And, I loved her colorful downtown street scene (we both would have loved more time to work on these paintings).

Downtown Nocturnes!

Our nocturnes together

My hat store nocturne

Mom and I agreed, our favorite experience was when we painted our downtown nocturnes. I don't know why, we just loved the quiet streets and painting in the dark; it was terrific fun. In hindsight, we should have gotten there earlier, as it was we got there at sunset (around 8 pm). We had to stop at 11 PM only because it was late and we had to get up for the next paint out early in the morning. Probably we could have stayed another hour! I painted like a madwoman to get the paint down-- to get the canvas surface covered. I did not use my light (except for here in photo), as I was under a pink light. I had fun mixing and putting the colors in under that pink night light.

Awards!

We loved meeting and talking to other artists and seeing their phenomenal work. Mom had met and taken workshops from several of the artists and they were incredible painters! We were just in awe of all the talent in the room each night at the show and sale, wow!


We would have given awards to:

This work amazes me, technical & perfect!

Brilliant composition

Perspective & a nocturne, wow!

I would have given this a TOP TOP Award! LOVE!

Mom really loved the lower painting here

One of My FAVES! Love the expressiveness!

Plein Air Fest: The Challenges

Lessons Learned



Last year I attended an Artist's Retreat and I have to point out how different that is from a Plein Air Fest. At the Art Retreat, we painted every morning and afternoon and had critiques of the paintings at night, it was all about the experience and dedication to painting. For the Plein Air Fest, we painting in morning and afternoon but we also had to frame our wet paintings for display. The Plein Air Fest was more about getting the painting ready for the art show and sale. We had to stop painting much sooner at the Plein Air Fest so that we could frame our works. Framing was tough for me as I could not pre-wire my frames or use previous frames since I flew in and had purchased new frames.

Lessons Learned:

Art Umbrella: When the sun was out it was super hot, I was glad that I brought my art umbrella in my luggage!
Hard Case Luggage: I put my pochade, tripod and umbrella in a hard luggage roller and packed my clothes under and around them, all equipment made it there and back in good condition.
Drive if you can: Flying is tough, as you are limited to a suitcase. If I had a car, I would have been able to bring a folding chair, cooler, frame ready frames, and framing equipment (drill, wire cutter, offset clips). I think that would have been easier.
Equipment: Knowing your art setup really helps, I was able to set up quickly and start painting. Also, on the last painting day, at 1230 the storms came in. I could see the sky turning black and hear the thunder, I called out to Mom that we needed to take down and get to the van. We were able to quickly pack up and get to safety in the van before the rains came!
Early Canvas Stamp: If the venue allows, I recommend getting all canvases stamped on the first day, this saves time.
Paint: I brought 12 small paint tubes (for these 4 days) and I had plenty of paint and did not lack for color. The colors I brought included: Titanium White, Warm White, Lemon Yellow, Cad Yellow, Permanent Red, Permanent Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Pthalo Green, Dioxazine Purple and Ivory Black.
Same Day Framing: Same Day Framing with a new frame is tough and time consuming. If I drive to a Plein Air Event in the future, I would prep for wiring and backing.
Perspective: Both of us admit that we could have used perspective refreshers, with large steep hills and tiny streets downtown(historical and narrow), looking up or down in the downtown created a strong need for perspective knowledge.
Larger Canvases: I love small gem paintings and had decided early on that 8x10 is what I had to do since I would try to bring those home in my back pack and luggage. Almost ALL award winners at the Plein Air Fest were larger (being relative) at 12x16 to 18x24 in size; small gems were not rewarded.
Water Color is So HOT Right Now: All of the big money awards and almost all awards-- 8 Awards went to water color paintings. Best in Show and First were watercolor paintings! Amazing, inspirational and talented artists won the awards, it was just a surprise to me that no oil paintings were chosen for recognition. I only paint in Oil...hmmm

Downtown Will Happen: While painting downtown, there was a lot of truck exhaust (yuck!), the UPS truck stopped in front of me and blocked my view, the street painter and his machine painted the street next to me, the ambulance parked right in front of me (I was on a street corner, not in a parking zone) --all in a 3 hour time period! Plus, parking for downtown was $5 per 3 hours, way overpriced!


 So there were a few challenges, but ultimately it was about the experience which was extremely positive. Here is a link to photos of all the Award Winners http://essa-art.org/espafest-2018-award-winners/

Plein Air Fest: The Good

Art Boot Camp!







Last week my Mom and I attended a Plein Air Fest, we had so much fun on this art-venture--the best part was spending the week together. We really enjoyed meeting other artists and seeing their phenomenal artworks!

For this Plein Air Fest, we had an intense art-filled daily schedule, hence the "Art Boot Camp", it was tough! Each morning we would grab coffee and our art supplies and drive out to the painting location. The venue had a suggested painting location for each day. Once we had our coffee, we would drive to the location, look for a place to paint, and then get to painting! The hard part was that we had to stop painting by 3PM each day so that we could frame our wet paint works, this was tough as often we would just be getting in the groove. I have decided that framing is not my friend, the first day it took me 35 minutes to add the brackets, and drill in loops and wire the back wiring. Needless to say, we were cutting it close to the 5 pm deadline. What Mom and I loved, was each evening we could see the artworks of the day, and vote for People's Choice, visiting with artists and event organizers.


The Schedule:
7 AM: Pack Art Supplies, pack cooler & lunch, grab coffee (wish we were morning people, ideally should have been up and out at 6 AM)
730 AM: Drive to location (sometimes determine paint location)
8 AM: Set up pochade/easel, layout paints
830 AM-3PM: Paint
2-3PM: Pack Up easel and paintings
330-430PM: Frame Wet Paint Works
430-5PM: Shower/refresh
5PM: Attend People's Choice Reception at Conference Center, see all artworks created that day!
7PM: Dinner/snack, wash brushes, clean palette for next day. Determine canvas for next day.

Mom's Day 1 Train Depot Painting

The Good:
Luggage
My luggage (with paint, pochade, tripod, and paint clothes) made it to the baggage claim! A good start.
Early Check In/Canvas Stamp
Mom and I made it to the early check in on Sunday afternoon. This was important as at this venue we were able to get all of our canvases stamped early. We each had about 12 canvases stamped (this way we would not have to stop or get canvases stamped before plein air paint outs each day).
Art Supplies

My painting Day 1, Lady in Red

We each had packed the supplies we would need, this was good as there was no place in town to get replacements
13 paintings in 4 days
Mom painted six paintings, I painted seven, all in the four-day time span. Wow! We are really proud that we met the deadline each day to turn in wet paintings (framed), this was a challenge!
Cooperative Weather
It was supposed to rain each day, but we got lucky, the sun was out most days, it only rained at 1230 on the last day
Meeting Other Artists
It was great at the end of each day to see the works produced by all of the artists, there was so much talent in the room, amazing!
Margaritas
Our first night, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant, and we ordered the small margarita, which was not so small. We rather enjoyed these margaritas and enjoyed them again the next evening after painting.

Special Thanks to my Mom! Mom took time off to be with me this week, and she was up for the rigorous Art Boot Camp schedule (up early, work, abed late). It was a great experience and I loved the company!

Preparation & A One Suitcase Dilemma

an old pic but i love the sunshine & flowers!

I am excited because my Mom and I are signed up for a Plein Air Event! Woot! It has been a dream of mine for a few years now for Mom and I to have an artventure together. This spring I found a plein air event near her house and signed us up!

I have been planning and trying to get ready for the plein air event which unbelievably is now next week. It is hard for me, not because I don't have lists and materials, but because I have to figure out how to transport everything in one suitcase. I am not a light packer in the best of times and the list of things I will need is long... Luckily my husband has a handheld travel scale, so I weighed all of my equipment.

In my suitcase I am packing: 
my pochade box, 5 lbs
my tripod, 3.5 lbs
my umbrella, 3 lbs
my paints, 2 lbs (10 small)
my brushes (one large set)

Aside from 15 pounds of art equipment I will need at least 35 pounds of clothes, right?

My suitcase clothing will include: painting pants, painting tops, hat, socks, and clothes to wear at night after a hot day of painting, pjs, plus one nice outfit for the dinner and museum visiting and a pair of flip flops (I will wear my tennis shoes).

My carry-on will be my plein air backpack with my art tape, palette paper, business cards, viewfinder, etc. I will have to put my e-reader there for the duration of the plane ride too.

Additionally, I have mailed my canvases and frames to Mom so that I do not have to carry those with me.

What I am most looking forward to about this trip is the quality time painting with my Mom, may it be a great adventure for us together.

Wish us luck, I hope we are ready!

Incorporating New Ideas

Inspiration is Everywhere if you are Open to it

Thumbnail sketch & thoughts

I have been reading about art quite a bit lately, I need to glean as much as I can. My mind is craving art information. I recently starting getting Plein Air Magazine--yes I love the articles and read the magazine from cover to cover. My latest inspiration comes from an article I read in the last issue of Plein Air Magazine.

In the article, there is an artist who writes the following on her thumbnail sketch (before starting painting): her Inspiration, Title and painting "Why". 

Often, when painting en plein air, I create a thumbnail sketch first. Thumbnails help determine composition and value in a very quick manner. Honestly, my thumbnails aren't perfect or beautiful, they are fast loose sketches using 3 black to light grey value markers (and the white of the paper). I am only looking for composition and value, fast as I have to get to painting!

This week I incorporated the ideas of the 'inspiration' and 'title' and 'why paint this' to my quick thumbnail sketch. 

Pictured are my thumbnail sketches, I tried a vertical and horizontal for composition (I chose the vertical). 

My inspired by: "Believe in The Power of You"--taken directly from my tee shirt. 

Title:  "Touch of Yellow". 

Why? Sunshine. First Day of Spring. 

Where do you find your inspiration?

Amp Up The Color

Touch of Yellow, 10 x 8

and Fight The April Beige

Today was the first real Spring day, the  first nice day this year featuring sunshine and warmth -- it's time to plein air paint!
Weather forecast: 60 degrees mostly sunny winds 5-10mph

You know me, I emailed all of my art friends, setting up a time to meet to paint at the local park. I was thrilled to receive 6 RSVPs.

Our Biggest Challenges: 

WIND
It did not feel like 60 and the winds were gusty at least 20 MPH! Bummer! We had to keep our coats on; luckily only one easel blew over!

The Beige Brown Park

APRIL BEIGE
Some artists like the tonal challenge where everything appears to be a shade of beige or brown--I am not that artist! Everything was dull and un-spring-like... not much color to be found.

Personally, I did not want to paint a beige brown painting, so I decided to amp up the color. I found a lone tree with yellowish leaves and decided that could be my focal point. The far land was a muted orange and the trees afar where muted purple. I made my colors a little more exciting, less muted and I like the brighter springlike look I achieved.

So this wasn't the perfect sunny day that I had envisioned, it was still a great day to get out and paint.

Recognize Your Artportunities

Take the ARTportunities that come your way!

September at Matthieu Bridge

A few weeks ago, I attended a one day workshop with national artist, Kenn Backhaus. In my opinion, one of the benefits of attending the workshop was a Critique of my work by Kenn. Imagine my surprise when Kenn asked the workshop attendees to raise their hands if they brought art for critique and only 6 of 20 people raised their hands.

Why wouldn't artists take advantage of this artportunity?  I was very surprised that many chose not to participate in the critique. I understand that critiques can be intimidating, but who better to point you in the right direction than a successful national artist? And while there was a crowd of 20 fellow artists, I still think it would be worth it to show your work (artists are the nicest people I know).

For the critique I chose one of my plein air works that I felt fairly confident about.

My Critique:
Nice greens (a good compliment as all were mixed by me-- no tube greens)
Nice lead in with yellow and balance of yellow
Water is not convincing
Trees in back are equal/symmetrical, make one smaller
Similar brushwork, be more deliberate and move different directions
Find artists who painted similar topic

The critique was done in a friendly and kind way, and I very much appreciated the feedback. And, because many attendees did not participate in the critique, I got a full 10 minute critique--what an artportunity!

I will not change my painting but will try to keep in mind the feedback for a future painting because I know that I will go to this location and paint this bridge again!

I suggest that we as artists should approach each opportunity with a positive attitude--be brave! All workshop artists are where you are or have been where you are; do not be intimidated to share your work.