plein air painting

MY VIEW OF PLEIN AIR PAINTING

THIS is my view of plein air painting:

First, you have to research plein air painting and see HOW it's done.

You read a lot of books, ask people. or watch you tube videos and take a few beginner's workshops.

Second, you have to find the perfect easel or pochade box.

So you do a lot of searching, you ask a lot of artists and you finally buy one.

You can't wait for it to arrive in the mail.

When it finally gets delivered, you are SO excited.

You open it up, play with it, and can't wait to go out painting.

Try out all the stuff you've read.

You head out for destinations known or unknown. 

You have all of your gear.

As little as possible, as light as possible, 

but you still have most of the following stuff:

your new pochade box, tripod, paints, palette, turpentine, brushes, apron,

paper towels or kleenix, wipees, hat, sunglasses, umbrella, seat or chair, 

sketchbook, pens or pencils, panels or canvas, plastic bags,

wet panels or canvas carrier, bug spray, gloves, and on and on...

You drive until you find that perfect scene.

You get out and you unload ALL of those things above that I mentioned.

You set up your tripod, attach your new box, and realize:

It's too heavy, it's too light, too bulky, not strong enough.

It doesn't have a good place to hold turpentine or brushes.

The place designed to hold your panels is too cumbersome

and hard to change around and switch up for different sizes.
Your palette area is too small or too big.

Your tripod is not heavy enough to hold everything in place.

You need that "rock holder thingy" that was offered for sale

 at the time you got your box and you thought you wouldn't need.

My friend Carla Forrest

So, anyway, you set everything up, put out your paints, 

your brushes, your umbrella. You're ready!

But alas, the wind is strong and blows your umbrella over.

Also your panel decides to break away and go flying 

down the beautiful arroyo you so want to capture.

Your hat flies off, the bugs are buzzing around your head,

Mean-looking ants are at your feet. 
And you are thirsty and hungry for food.

BUT - and here's the thing about plein air painting - 

When you finally get it right 

 (and you will - I have six pochade boxes and easels to prove it),

the feeling of being alone out in the landscape is MAGICAL.

It's just you and nature.

Or maybe you go with a friend

 and it's just the two of you, enjoying the day.

Making some art.

The clouds are rolling by.

The light is moving quickly, so you have to capture it.

You hear a few birds overhead. 

Maybe see a squirrel or coyote. Or deer.

Rosie Sandifur

You block in your work.

For me, it's darks, then a highlight or two,

then the middle values.

You sometimes think, what am I doing out here?
I don't know what i'm doing.

This isn't working!

And all of a sudden 
(three hours later), it all comes together.

You place that one color note of paint in one spot, 

and BAM, you have created something you're proud of.

SO, the light is finally gone, you're cold (or hot) and tired.

You load ALL of your gear back in your car.

And go home.

And go back out again as soon as possible.

And that's what plein air painting is about.

Try it - you will love it or hate it.
But you can say you've DONE it.

Next time - Painting from Photos

Gearing Up for a Challenge

CLEANING THE STUDIO

To me, cleaning my studio is like cleaning and clearing my mind.

Getting ready to start something new and fresh.

Here are a few photos of my studio in the throes of messiness:

 Things are kind of a disaster in the studio right now - I just got a big order of paints in, 

you can see them on the counter, some boxes are opened, some are not. 

There are papers everywhere, boxes on the floor, my photos are unorganized.

I'm not looking forward to this.

No, that's a lie.

I am looking forward to this.

Because once it's done, I will be able to just sit and focus

and think about the upcoming 145 day Challenge.

What subjects am I going to paint?

What day trips do I want to take?

Are people going to be interested?

What kind of yummy food am I going to serve for the meal

at the end of the Challenge?
Hmm, that will take some heavy-duty thinking....

 A close up of my new oil paints - Gamblin of course. 

The only kind I use except for Old Holland's Violet Grey and Winsor Newton's Permanent Rose.

You can also see the containers of Gamsol, Gamblin's odorless mineral spirits.

Couldn't live without that stuff.
And on the floor, is my small carry tray thingy filled with
all of my plein air supplies.
When I'm ready to go, I just grab it, a chair, an umbrella,
and I can be off.

 This is a shot of my ornaments in baskets on the floor that I keep saying 

I'm going to paint and never seem to actually find the time to do. 

Maybe one of these days.

You can also see the small easels I use for daily painting 

(I have three of those and eight other easels).

Then, there are the boxes of Wipees I use to clean EVERYTHING, the purple latex gloves, 

and the Kleenix (although any brand will do) that I use for wiping my brushes when painting. 

And the mess of paper I always have laying about.

 Aah, better.

The panels are organized, the brushes are laid out.

The two large red canvases are going to be skyscapes for an

upcoming show at Weems Uptown gallery.

My roll-around cart of photos for subjects is basically straight.

I'm just waiting for 132 panels to come in and

145 custom ordered antique silver speckle plein air frames.

My car is ready, I will be on the road soon.

 Paints are all organized and set up from light to dark.

 One more view of my clean studio.

Sometime during the Challenge, I'm going to paint it a beautiful grey-green.

This is my ever-faithful cd cabinet.

It doesn't close all the way, so I have a hair tie looped around the two knobs.

The cabinet is packed with cds inside.

I don't think I will ever have a shortage of music.

Also, my Wolf Kahn calender for inspiration.

I think I'm almost ready.....

seeing red...in more ways than one

Greetings!

Today has been a weird day.

It started off really well - I woke up, slept good, then went to Planet Fitness to work out.

I had a good workout riding the bike for 45 minutes. Until...

Until I went to get into my car, and it wouldn't start.

Okay, I'm pretty laid back.

I usually just try to let things roll off of me.

I don't usually get very stressed.

BUT....we have put over $2000 into this car just since August.

I was seeing red. Lots of red. Frustrated red.

So my trusty husband came and jump-started me and off we went to the mechanic.

Turns out we need a new battery. Another $155.

But worth it for a car that runs and starts when I need it to.

So I got dropped off at my house, and I was so tense.

Just hyped up and couldn't seem to get motivated to do anything.

I decided to make myself some lunch, sat down on the couch 

and became a certified couch potato for an hour.

I watched Millionaire Matchmaker and LA Shrink.

Those two crazy shows put my problems into perspective and I felt better.

I finally made it into the studio and finished toning my panels.

And yes, they were red. But a calming reddish-orange, not mean and angry red.

And I slowly began to breathe again.....

Here are a few photos my toning process.

 On the left is a SOLD commission still life in the works.

It will be a blue vase of poppies. And the poppies will be sort of a dark fuschia red.

the red you see in that little red frame on the right.

When I tone, I do the panels all at once and they are put everywhere - on top of photos, 

on top of a roll of upstanding paper towels, on top of my paints. 

I even have one balancing on top of my trash can.

But look at how organized my table looks!

Enjoy it while it lasts...

 Oh I'm sorry, I have not one but TWO panels balanced on my trash can.

I even have one lying on top of my brushes. 

My bad.

A semi-arial view of toned canvas everywhere.

I think I toned about seventy-five of those babies.

Now what to do?

More on that later....