New Age Realism
Nowadays, many people don’t see the relevance of realistic works of art. Some claim that the craft involves no imagination, while others assert that a photograph is more accurate anyways. Although the popularity of realism in artwork may be dwindling, that doesn’t mean that you can’t look to nature for inspiration.
Abstract landscape painting is the perfect way to juxtapose the power of nature and the call for expressive artwork. By creating your own distinct view of nature, you can allow people to experience your interpretation of the world around you. And, of course, one of the signs of true art is that it requires the observer to unearth new ways of thinking or discover those ideas that may be lying dormant in them.
The Banyan Trees
On Sunday, my friend and I drove down McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers, with its impressive Royal Palm trees lining the street. We were looking for interesting trees to paint. Perhaps there would be some on a side street where parking was available. As luck would have it, we found nothing. Either there were no trees, or if trees, then no parking.
Eventually, as we drove around the downtown area we found 2 large banyan trees on the Court House lawn. We set up our easels in the almost vacant parking lot and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of plein air painting, something not possible during a busy week. We later learned that the Court House is to be razed and rebuilt. What a loss! It’s a beautiful old structure!
Raining, Again
Yep, you guessed it! It’s raining again today! With a 90% chance of raining tomorrow, this is just not a good time to do plein air painting!
I always have paintings that need finishing however. Sometimes I have to adjust the colors a bit, and I like to paint around the edges which is always done in studio. So today is a good day to finish some of those landscape paintings that were mostly painted on site!
The Cove on Pine Island
On Saturday, my friend and I decided to paint at the Cove Park on Pine Island, FL. We have been there many times in the past, but not yet this year.
The Cove is a small park at the end of Tropical Point Road and has in the past been a place where one could launch a boat. Not so this year. Big posts blocked the entrance to the river. However, there were many happy people enjoying a picnic.
I soon found a spot I liked and set up my easel. Before long, I had 5 palm trees and a river on my landscape painting!
Plein Air Painting at Wild Acres
For 5 years, each July, I attended an art workshop at Wild Acres, North Carolina, about 40 miles from Asheville and 3 miles from Little Switzerland on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I felt like a kid at camp. All I had to do was eat, sleep and paint as the food was prepared for us and when the dinner bell rang, we all assembled in the dining room for a wonderful repast.
On Fridays, each class showed what they had done for the week - the printmakers, the ceramic artists, photographers, studio artists, and plein air artists. I was amazed that consistently, the paintings of the plein air artists had much more color, feeling and life than those of the studio artists.
Plein Air Painting in Florida
Here in Florida, we have not had a good winter for plein air painting. We have had high temps in the low 60s (most of the day was in the 50s) with 10 - 20 mph winds most of the time.
Now, I know that temps in the 60s seem like balmy zephyrs to those of you reading this who have had temps in the teens or lower, in addition to many feet of snow, but is is just now pleasant to wear your fleece jacket or wool hoodie or long undies to be in the open air for 2 hours or so to do a painting. The good news is that spring is coming and warmer temps will be here soon. I’m just now sure which month!
Red Tree Trunks and Pink Skies
Usually, when I want to paint a landscape painting, I go to a site, find a scene that appeals to me and set up my easel. Then I decide where I want the focal point to be located on the canvas, and draw the lines necessary for the structure of the scene
In the past, I drew the outlines of the tree trunks and foliage, omitting all but the necessary parts. I then painted each part a color. The result was a very flat scene.
Recently, I have been trying to add shading so that the trees look rounded and foliage more natural. I think these paintings appear more realistic, however, I may always paint red tree trunks and pink skies!
Plein Air Painters
When I think of artists, I tend to think of conflicted individuals confined to an isolated studio somewhere. This imagery is certainly true for some artists, but it is by no means the only model. Many artists go into nature to find inspiration from the world around them.
These plein air painters are definitely a different breed. In my experience, their work generally displays more color and a sense of uplifting than their indoor counterparts. While you may assume that plein air artwork simply portrays landscapes and run-of-the-mill depictions of nature, many of the pieces are abstract and atypical.
The Park on Coronado Parkway
A few days ago, my friend and I went to the city park on Coronado Parkway, Cape Coral, FL. to do some plein air painting. It is a fairly large park with a variety of trees.
Along the perimeters are “stubby” trees with short trunks and billowing tops. The interior of the park had larger, more elegant trees which gave lots of shade for the children’s playground and picnic shelters beneath them.
There were also some quite large shelters. I didn’t check them out, but I heard the clack of what might have been shuffleboard pucks attacking one another. Parks are great places to enjoy life.
The Bonsai Nursery
Today, my friend and I visited a Bonsai nursery in North Fort Myers in search of a choice tree for our landscape paintings. Bonsai trees are amazing to me - those little shrubs about 12″ - 36″ in height that normally would be much larger!
To create a Bonsai tree, one uses techniques like pruning, root reduction and grafting to produce small trees that mimic the shape and style of mature, full-sized trees. Frequently, the trunks of Bonsai trees are much larger in comparison to their height than normal tree trunks are to their height. Also, sometimes the limbs have been wired to grow in a particular shape to make an interesting display. To me, they are always charming.