Plein Air: An Event Close To Home

Red Delicious & Bird Bungalow

Luckily I Didn't Have to Travel Far for This Plein Air Event

I always see the plein air ads in magazines that offer overseas plein air adventures; that sounds lovely but I prefer to have my plein air adventures closer to home. I am not a light packer, I do not know how I would get my gear overseas! My fellow artist friend, called me a "Girlscout" because I am prepared (and probably carry too much stuff).

This was my second year participating in the FRESH Milford Paint Out, which occurs in a town near me. It is a great local event and I am always incredibly impressed with the artistic talent in the area! WOW!

The Advantages of a Local Plein Air Event:

• I can scout the area ahead of time
  I made a list in order of ideal of painting locations
• I can invite friends/paint with friends
• I paint in the park weekly, I have favorite painting spots
• I can pack my lunch
• I know where the restrooms are
• I can go home at night to my comfy bed
• I can use frames from home and have assistance framing wet paintings (hello husband). If you read about my Eureka Springs Paint out, me doing the framing each afternoon was tough and exhausting, I would not sign up for that again for awhile.
  

Solitude

In the two day plein air event, I was able to produce 4 paintings. Two of them I was pleased with and put into the show!

Friday we started painting on a barn and farmhouse property, despite the threat of rain. The day stayed gray and overcast, but we got lucky and did not get rained on. I think we started painting at 930 (it took me while to get my composition placed) and stopped painting at 2, that was my first painting for the day. I did not take much of a lunch break as I had packed my lunch. Another reason it took me longer to paint was the fact that I used an 11x14 canvas which is larger than I typically use for plein air (I love 8x10 and 9x12). But the barn scene had so many interesting things going on--the light field and green trees behind, the stone wall in the front--just interesting! I could have stayed at this location all day, and had hoped to paint the farmhouse in the afternoon. One art friend was worried about the threat of rain, so we moved to one of our rain locations (we had scouted the local area for hours before the event). At the second location, the cemetary,  we took in the view from the shelter, which was not great. We all still painted near our cars, in case of rain. The sky did turn dark all around, but it did not rain on us. At 5 pm I had to stop, I was tired, my painting arm was tired. It had been a good day!

Fence & Flowers

On Saturday we woke up to pouring rain and even as I drove to the park, it was raining. I put black garbage bags over my gear as we walked from the car to the park shelter (a bit of a walk) in the light rain. I was very thankful for the shelter as it poured rain for several hours; hours that I painted comfortably. My first Saturday painting was a 9x12 birdhouse. I loved the light white of the birdhouse against the deep green trees and grasses, and the sky was dark with rain. I also really wanted to get in the pale pink flowers at the base of the birdhouse, they were lovely. Overall I am happy with the birdhouse painting, I took many photos and in the future may do a studio painting from them. Once again, my AM painting took longer. It took longer than I thought to get in the fences and the flowers.

Love this scene, but it may rain!

For my PM painting I chose a smaller 8x10 canvas and I had wanted to paint yellow day lilies against a fence post, this was more challenging than I anticipated. Another long but good day.

After painting all day I was happy but exhausted! I would go home, walk the dogs, take a bath, repack my art kit and make a lunch and go to bed early.

My favorite day was Sunday when we attended the art show and sale in which artists could take in 2 framed paintings created over the 2 day event. How fun to see all of the works created over the weekend. Wow! The talent in the local area is amazing! 

Go see the show at the SHAC on Main Street in Milford, now through August 21st!!! 

What's On Your Palette?

My Colors: Color Chart  

Sue, You've Got Me Thinking!

My friend Sue has just started Oil Painting and she has been asking many questions about colors, color mixing and palettes. Sue is a Professional Pastel Artist and she has only recently decided to try Oil Painting--she has done amazingly well! All of Sue's questions really got me thinking about my palette colors and how they have changed since I started taking Oil Painting classes.

After writing down my palette and re-reading Richard Scmid's Alla Prima, I decided to start making color charts.  Color charts take a long time and are a lot of work but I want to know what my colors can do. The first color chart is my palette colors across the top (horizontal) and then the top color mixed with an increasing amount of white (the vertical). Look at the beautiful bright color choices that I mixed! And, there are still color charts to make now of each color mixed with all the other colors...many more charts to do.

So, here is my current paint palette:

Sara Palette Summer 2018

Warm White (Gamblin)

Titanium White (Gamblin)

Radiant Lemon (Gamblin)

Cadmium Yellow Medium (Rembrandt)

Permanent Red Medium (Rembrandt)

Alizarin Crimson (Winsor & Newton)

Permanent Rose (Winsor & Newton)

Cerulean Blue Hue (Gamblin) *

Ultramarine Blue (Gamblin)

Viridian Green (Rembrandt)*

Pthalo Green (Gamblin)

Winsor Violet Dioxazine (Winsor & Newton)

Ivory Black (Gamblin)

*Denotes sometimes color (this is not always on my palette).

Play Colors: I own and use (but not always) Indian Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Yellow Ochre Light, Naples Yellow.

Notes:

This is my current palette but this does change. Only since April have I been using Pthalo Green, it is currently what I would call a ‘Play” color. I want to see what it does and how it interacts with my palette. Right now I love the dark purple that I get when I mix Pthalo and Alizarin or Pthalo and Permanent Rose. Also, I like to mix my own greens, I don't use much "tube" green when I plein air paint.

I tried using Gamblin’s Cadmium Yellow and I did not like it, it was cheaper and less toxic but it did not have the same color or consistency (butter) as that of the Rembrandt paint.

In looking back at numerous oil painting class notes, my palette is most close that of my favorite art workshop instructor,  Vianna Szabo. I have removed from my palette the Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow, and most earth colors (which I had from previous classes and workshops). I have found that each Instructor will prefer different colors and mediums, but ultimately the artist has to choose and try what works for them. 

I have tried many colors and many palettes, this is where I am today--subject to change, of course. 

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?