Posts Tagged ‘plein air painting’
Choosing Your Subject
Edward Betts, one of America’s most creative painters, in his book Creative Landscape Painting says that developing a creative imagination or a creative viewpoint means beginning to comprehend nature and create paintings that go beyond the ordinary, toward an art that is more personal and inventive.
One of the first decisions an artist makes is deciding on the subject of the picture. Actually, it is not so much a matter of choosing a subject, but rather to responding to some visual situation. The artist sees something that triggers an interaction with the artist’s inner world of the subconscious. As Sir Thomas Browne stated, “We carry within us the wonders we seek without us.”
The fact that something outside himself has affected the artist intimately means he now has something to communicate. If you are genuinely excited about your subject, then you have a very good chance of sharing that excitement, by means of your art, with someone else. So search out the landscape forms that touch you deeply and make them the core of your art.
Dan McCaw
In the September 2011 issue of American Artist is an article about Dan McCaw, California artist and teacher, formerly a landscape painter of traditional realism. Today his style is somewhere between traditional and modern art. One of his main pieces of advice is to not be afraid of frustration, but to keep going when you hit a block. “Some of my worst days of painting are my best,” he says, “because I am taking risks outside my comfort zone and pushing past challenges to find something original.”
As McCaw began searching for a style that was true to his inner self, his brush work became looser and he began to think in terms of patterns, shapes and design. He always left something to the viewer’s imagination. As he experimented with the expressiveness of abstract painting, fear gave way to freedom. “Capturing an emotion is so much more powerful than just copying an appearance,” he said. “I want to bring my own personal interpretation to the canvas and connect with viewers on a higher emotional level.”
Pony Penning
This past week was the annual Pony Penning at Chincoteague, VA. It all started many years ago after a big fire at Chincoteague that the town decided they needed a Volunteer Fire Department (VFD). Then the question became how to raise money for the expenses needed.
Wild ponies, descendents of those who fled the sinking Spanish galleons of 3 centuries or so ago, live on Assateague Island, barrier island that runs from Ocean City, MD, to Chincoteague, VA. Each year the Chincoteague “cowboys” drive the 150 or so ponies across the narrow waterway between the barrier island and the mainland. The fittest are auctioned off for the VFD and the rest are returned to the island. Many thousands of people come each year to the event, the last full week of July.
This event has been made famous in the children’s book Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry which was based on a real horse named Misty and which won a Newberry Award in 1948. In September, I go to Chincoteague for a plein air Paint Out contest.
Last Weekend
I have just returned from a big weekend in mid-California. My daughter’s wedding took center stage. My birthday was first, then a shower for the bride, rehearsal and dinner, and finally the wedding on Sunday at a beautiful park with tall redwoods!
We had such a nice weekend with family and friends. But I’ll get back to landscape painting soon!
Plein Air Workshop at McCann – Part 2
On Thursday afternoon we went out doors to paint. I found a grove of 6 or 8 hemlock trees to paint. Hemlocks are a kind of evergreen tree: the upper branches have needles, but all the in-between and lower branches are small, barren and grow horizontally, bending downward at the ends. I painted on my square canvas and almost finished the painting.
On Friday, Joanna and I were the only students and we are both oil painters. We went to a creek area with large hemlocks on each side. It took me most of the day to finish my painting, but it is attached.
The under painting shows through somewhat in the brown area at the bottom of the painting, but I’m not sure about the iridescent copper in the under painting. Perhaps I painted over it too thickly. It’s purpose was to make the painting glow.
Plein Air Workshop at McCann
This past Thursday and Friday, I attended a plein air workshop at the J. Barton McCann School of Art near State College, PA. Susan Nicholas Gebhart, Central PA President of the Pastel Society, was the instructor. Four pastel painters and two oil painters attended.
On Thursday, our lesson was to try different under paintings. We used a half sheet of watercolor paper taped to a board. Then, laying it in landscape fashion, placed a tape about 6” from the left side down the width of the paper, creating a long rectangle. Using another tape placed horizontally, we divided the right side into two rectangles. The paper was rectangular, but the photo shows it as being square.
Using acrylic paints, we covered each rectangle entirely, sealing it. Where we expected the ground to be later, we used darker colors; where the sky might be, we used lighter colors. Now our watercolor paper was ready for oil painting or pastels. When finished and framed, this can be three views of a scene and very attractive. Susan can be reached at http://www.snicholasart.com or 814-360-2116.
Fat Over Lean
In oil painting, there is a well-known adage to remember – “fat over lean” – meaning more oily layers are applied over less oily layers (think: oils over acrylics). Paint that is less oily is less flexible and more brittle and faster drying. By placing the more oily, or fatter, layers on top of the less oily, or leaner, layers, the lower layers can continue to breathe and dry.
Oils straight from the tube are considered lean, while all painting mediums are considered fat. At the start of a painting, some solvent may be used, but in successive layers, the solvent is replaced with medium. Thus top layers are always fatter than lower layers.
Establishing Consistent Light on Palette & Canvas
A single color will appear different under lights of varying brightness. This simple fact is crucial to controlling color mixing. Imagine the difficulty if every time you mixed a color and applied it to the canvas, it appeared either darker or lighter than you intended. This is exactly the problem faced if the light on the canvas and palette are not the same.
The worst imbalance is when the sun shines on the palette and the canvas is in the shadow. If both the canvas and palette are in full sun, judging colors is next to impossible. The most balanced situation is when both canvas and palette are in soft shade – as under a tree or in the shadow of a building.
To create shade when plein air painting, sometimes the easel can be positioned opposite the sun, so that shade from the canvas falls on the palette. With French easels, a piece of cardboard or an extra canvas can be put behind the painting surface to block some of the sunlight. Another possibility of obtaining equal light on palette and canvas is to place the palette upright in the same plane as the canvas. Use a mini bungee cord tied from behind to hold the palette against the frame. Finally, an artist’s umbrella allows you to make shade wherever you are.
Hanging Your Show
The first challenge is to recognize that, while the oil paintings you have created for the exhibition are the reason for the show, the exhibition is not about the works. The exhibition is a work of art unto itself. Your paintings are just one component of the larger work – the exhibition. Among the factors that contribute to the success of the show are the space, lighting, how viewers will move through the space, unavoidable visual distractions, the arrangement of the pieces and the mechanics of hanging the work.
Start by clearing the space as completely as possible and examine the surroundings. Is there natural light? How many and where are the entrances and exits? Are there any pillars, unmovable dividing walls or other obstructions? Do the walls need to be touched up? Then bring your works, if possible, to the center of the space – not line them up against the wall. We don’t want them to become an impediment to envisioning the best possible layout of your show. (to be continued)
ECHO
For the past three years, each winter when I came to Florida, I went to Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) and did oil paintings of their banana trees. They are such cool trees! ECHO is a wonderful organization. The people there, very many volunteers, do research on all kinds of soil mixtures, sand to clay, and terrains, desert to highlands. They grow seeds for developing nations and invent low cost and natural ways of enriching the soil, irrigating, and solving other problems.
This winter, I didn’t arrive until December and just in time to witness two devastating frosts that ruined the orange and vegetable crops of Florida. It ruined the large banana trees, too , but always a sprout remained. When I was at ECHO today, those sprouts had grown and looked good, but they’ll look better next November when I return. In the meantime, the small painting that I made last year, I brought home from a gallery where it was for sale, and I think I’ll donate it to ECHO. I’m sure they would like to include it in one of their money making projects.