Archive for the ‘Plein Air Art’ Category
Finding Your Voice – for the Plein Air Painter
Plein air painters as well as others can paint for many years and never quite find their artistic voice. Eric Maisel., PH.D., in the October 2011 issue of Professional Artist gives 10 tips for finding your voice as an artist. The following are two:
All artists possess an internal library of the successful art works of well-known artists. As a result, a very common problem, and almost always a subconscious one, is the need for an artist in the early stages of his or her career to make art that looks like this “good art” or “real art.” Without realizing what he or she is doing, the artist aims to push his or her art in the direction of those successes. It is vital that an artist gives his or her own imagery a chance to appear.
When you make new work that you think is pointing you in the direction of your genuine voice, try to complete that work rather than stopping midway because “it doesn’t look right” or “it isn’t working out.” You will make more progress if you push through those feelings and complete the work, and appraise it afterward. It is natural for work that is a stretch for you to provoke all sorts of uncomfortable feelings as you attempt it. Help yourself tolerate those feelings by reminding yourself that finishing is the key to progress.
Photographing Your Plein Air Paintings
The highest paid blue collar job in Manhattan in 1909 was “chauffeur” because people didn’t think they could drive their own cars. Today plein air painters must learn that they can photograph their own art and do as good a job as the professionals. These tips are from Canadian artist Robert Genn:
You need a camera with at least 8 mega pixels. Check your camera’s handbook and set the camera on the highest resolution and quality possible in JPG. Hang your unglazed art vertically on a neutral-toned outside wall at eye level in open shade on a bright day between 11 and 3. Take several shots almost filling the frame from a few feet away at a medium focal length. In other words, not wide angle and not telephoto. When you look through the viewfinder, make sure the painting is not keystoned (off square) or pincushioned (curved edge). You can crop it if you wish, but you need to save it without any resizing, as a very high quality JPG before you send it by email.
Plein Air Painters’ Workshop
Anna and I just returned from a weekend at Hameau Farms near Belleville, PA. We left Friday afternoon for a plein air painters’ workshop with Susan Nicholas Gebhart from that area.
We had a small problem with a flat tire on the way there. Otherwise we had a great weekend, met several new friends, had delicious food and a great workshop.
Going Big from Plein Air Paintings
Last week Robert Genn, Canadian landscape painter, had some ideas about how to change a small 8” x 10” plein air painting into a large studio piece. Here is what he said: Effective large paintings are often merely small paintings enlarged. This is how they gain power and authority. The temptation is to put more elements into larger paintings, thus weakening the overall compositions.
To make better bigs, first consider copying small paintings onto the larger formats you have in mind. Enlarge the size of brushes you use, squeeze more paint – you’re going to need it. Where really large amounts are needed, premix. In acrylics, storage in yogurt cups with lids makes for ease of operation and avoids all kinds of problems. Artists need to eat a lot of yogurt.
Gridding, pantographong and projecting-up are useful tools in the art of bigs. Don’t be embarrassed about using these tools – it’s just practical and intelligent. The time honored convention of the thumbnail is most useful in planning bigs. Go small – and let the sketch tell you what size might work best.
Discussing Plein Air Painting
Tomorrow I have been asked to speak with art students at a local high school about my adventures and experiences doing plein air painting. The classes are Art I and II and a crafts class.
I will have to confess that I’m an experienced math teacher and came by art on a second chance to get it right! Fortunately, the regular teacher has additional plans for each class because my talk will take only a few minutes of each class. I will also bring some paintings to show. This will be both a fun experience and a challenge, but I look forward to it.
Movement and Rhythm in a Plein Air Painting
Among the most important considerations in a plein air painting are movement and rhythm – the journey of the eye as it makes connections among the elements of a composition. These connections, or eye paths, are sometimes obvious, as along a telephone pole or across the top of a mountain. At other times, the eye paths are more subtle as the mind and eye try to connect things along a common path, such as the implied diagonal along the tops of the tallest trees.
A fundamental rule of compositions is that every painting should have a focal point – one spot that is the center of attention. However, all areas of a painting should be interesting. It is much more important to keep the eye moving, never stopping or resting on one spot for too long. Rather than think in terms of a single focal point, think about areas of primary and secondary emphasis in the painting.
Children and the Arts
In addition to the five blog spots per week I write about plein air painting for this blog, I also write two more for an online mall with which I am associated called Easy Place to Shop (http://www.easyplacetoshop.com). One blog spot is about children and the arts, the other is about home décor.
It is so important for children to become involved in the arts – whether music, drama, or painting. In school, children give memorized answers or answers arrived through calculation. In the arts, they learn about feelings, that problems can have more than one solution, that there are many ways to see the world, that small differences can have large effects, that neither words nor numbers define the limits of our understanding, that the arts enable us to have experiences we can have from no other source and through these experiences, we can discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling. In short, the arts enrich our lives.
Blind Spots in Plein Air Painting
Landscape painter Robert Genn in his weekly newsletter recently wrote about blind spots. He had successfully avoided someone whom he didn’t like at a party by avoiding eye contact with him. In like manner, a few days later he realized he was doing the same thing with his painting. He disliked some areas, so he avoided them. Other areas held his attention and kept him busy.
Upon checking with his fellow painters, he found that some had the same problem with blind spots. For some, the background held their attention while they ignored the difficult foreground. For others, certain small areas became lost in the shuffle.
How do you defeat the blind spot syndrome? First, accept that you will naturally favor some areas more than others. While your work is in progress you need to move between confident brushwork and rational strategy. It takes both sides of your brain to find the blind spots. Then let a few days pass before final decisions. Cruise objectively as through the eyes of another artist. The fixable blind spots will appear.
Site Selection for the Plein Air Painter – Part 2
Proceeding from yesterday, Michael Albala continues his list of questions to ask oneself. 5) What time of day are you painting? Morning and late afternoon offer the best opportunities for clear patterns of light and shadow. Remember that the sun seems to move the fastest at those times also, so two hours or so will be the maximum time you will be able to paint before the light changes.
6) In what direction is the sun moving? Will it come up over the trees shortly and change the light structure of the entire scene? Will it drop down behind the house soon? 7) Is there a way to introduce linear perspective? If there is not a naturally occurring diagonal, such as a road, fence or street, is there anything that could be exaggerated or invented?
I hope these questions will be helpful in locating the site for your next plein air painting event.
Site Selection for the Plein Air Painter
There are a variety of landscape subjects that are difficult to paint on a canvas. They may have wonderful color or possess great depth, but lack the spatial cues needed to suggest space in a two-dimensional painting.
Michael Albala in his book Landscape Painting lists some questions that plein air painters should ask themselves: 1) Are the various parts of the scene adequately differentiated? Do the values, colors and shapes distinguish themselves or do they blend together? 2) Is there a cross light that produces a light side and a shadow side to reveal the volume of the forms? Would a different vantage point reveal more cross light? 3) If the scene does not have enough cross light (as in sunrises, sunsets and overcast days), can the flat shapes be organized in a way that moves the eye through the landscape. Are there enough overlaps, scale differences and distinct value zones? 4) Have you included overlapping elements and elements that vary in scale to help indicate a layered space? (to be continued)