Scioto Park

What a perfect day to paint! The group met along the Scioto River near Dublin at Scioto Park. It was a lovely park. I painted at the river's edge. This is an oil painting on a Yes! Canvas panel using a palette knife. I tried 'stand oil' today instead of Liquin. Not sure I like this medium or not.

At the start, I toned the canvas with Napthol Red Light, leaving a bit of it to show through.

Above it is shown in my pochade box at the painting site, and below I have put it in my new easel in the sun room. It's a 8x10 but it looks pretty puny in this big easel!

Excuses, excuses....

No, I haven't painted for a couple weeks. I had intended to paint while at the MAC art fair last weekend, but I was sick with a cold.

The little art fair in the yard at the MAC was nice and casual. There were maybe 25 artists and several did quite well with sales. Lots of people walked through with their dogs or riding their bikes, on their way to the farmer's market uptown. I went to help out for a couple hours, but the cold got the best of me and went home to take decongestant and sleep the afternoon away.... what a waste of a weekend.

I never get colds! Can't remember the last time I had one... I blame this on visiting the doctor for a routine checkup. I must have touched something the snotty nosed kids had touched. I even used hand sanitizer on the way out of the office! Anyway, once again, I was side tracked from doing artwork.

I finally got the new studio organized and I hung some nice 'picture ledge' type wall shelves so that I can display and rearrange my artwork. And this week, I purchased an artist's H-frame floor easel. I'd been wanting one for awhile but waited until I was more organized after the move. I set it up out in the sun room for now, so I have two very nice places to paint with good lighting.

I had started an oil painting a few weeks ago. It's still in the 'ugly' stage and sits there and taunts me... I need to push past that and finish it up.

No more excuses......

Art in the Yard

Workshop Day #2

Today the workshop was held at Whetstone Park of Roses in Clintonville. This is a very busy city park. We first setup near the "Edible Garden" - a very aromatic setting to watch Jim's demo! I also was able to take a couple pictures of a hummingbird and a cicada, although you might have to click on the photos to be able to see them.

It was a bit hotter today - but I was pretty pooped - mentally, creatively and physically. I don't have alot of stamina to paint that many hours in two days. Even though I love to be in nature, its demanding to try to find an interesting subject and make it work, while visitors stroll around you. I pretty much painted two stinkers!!  But I was happy that I was able to purchase one of Jim's demo paintings, so at least I came home with one nicely done painting.

Workshop Day #1

It was a nice day for the plein air workshop. Today we met at Inniswood Garden Metro Park. Jim did a demo then let us loose to paint on our own. He came around and helped us with our paintings.

I was happy with my paintings. The first was a oil painting using a brush, painted on mat board primed with black gesso.

We broke for an hour lunch, then went to a different area of the park. Jim did another demo, then I started another painting. By this time, I was getting pretty hot and the gnats were starting to get to my face. I worked really quickly and used a palette knife for about 85% of this painting. I think this is the better painting of the day. This is oils on a YES! canvas panel. I like working on these panels a lot, and I am really enjoying working with a palette knife.

Tomorrow, we meet at Whetstone Park Of Roses. It's to be a bit hotter, but still a nice day.

Plein Air Class

Inniswood Metro Park

This coming weekend instead of painting with the group, I'll be taking a class with my oil painting teacher, Jim Glover. He is teaching a two-day workshop in Plein Air Painting at two local parks. I took studio classes with Jim last fall to learn about oil painting and I learned a lot from him. But since I'd laid off painting while the house was on the market, etc... I forgot half of the stuff he taught me! I am looking forward to this weekend.

It will be a long two days - we will be outside working from 9am-4pm. But because of the schedule, I might not feel as rushed in my work as I do when I paint with the group on Saturday mornings. The weather promises to be about perfect - we are finally getting a break from the heat and humidity - it's supposed to be sunny with highs in the low 80's.

I will post about the workshop next week. I do plan on taking lots of photos.

Pastel - Downtown Grove City

Today we painted in Grove City Ohio in their downtown area. There was a Farmer's Market going on, but I hung out in the shade behind City Hall away from the hubbub and crowds, with a view of this mural on the building across the street. A few of us who setup with this view painted the little bandstand, but I was more interested in the mural and the way the light was filtering down upon it through the tree.

I decided to paint in pastels today, it's been awhile. I thought since we were probably going to see alot of architecture, it would be easier for me in pastels, since I have problems painting straight lines with oils!

I started out with a piece of 8 x 10 suede mat board which was a bright scarlet red. Suede mat board is my favorite support for pastels, it grabs the pigment so easily. I dislike the feeling of working on sanded supports, as it's like 'fingernails on a chalkboard' feeling to me... I don't get that feeling with suede board. It's like painting with butter - smooth and soft.

I painted it a bit stronger than reality, but liked how it turned out. I feel it might be one of my strongest paintings that I have completed recently.

City Center Mural, 8 x 10, pastel on suede mat board

I also tried out using a 'My Art Cocoon' carrier which one of the guys in the group gave me. He'd received a number of these and wanted the rest of our group to give them a try. You can Google the name if you are interested in learning more. It worked really good for working on my Guerilla Cigar Box pochade, I mounted he Cocoon on the outside the normal frame work of the Guerilla box, which worked much better than inside. I always felt like I was scrunched inside the box before. I use the Cigar Box only for my pastels. I have the Guerilla inserts which cradle and protect my pastels in transport. I have a Guerilla 9 x 12 box that I use for my oils. Both boxes, I found very slightly used on E Bay and got a good deal on them.