Plein Air - April 30

 We painted at Hayden Falls today. I'd never been there so was excited to see it. Because there are some long, steep steps to get to the falls, I walked down without my gear to take pictures and look around. It was cool and dark and misty from the falls - not good for painting! I enjoyed viewing the falls, but it didn't inspire me enough to climb back up to the car to haul my gear back down, so I just setup above in the parking lot with a few other people. I decided to just do a quick practice piece with a palette knife.

Among the Pines, 8 x 10, oil

 I don't understand why blogger rotates my pics when I download them!

Plein Air - April 9

Finally, our group was able to get out and paint. The weather was a bit warmer today, about 50 degrees with a very dull overcast sky. We painted at Alum Creek State Park, below the dam where the river leaves the reservoir.  I chose a view looking downstream towards the bridge.

I started with a canvas board washed with the Napthol red acrylic wash, as I had done with yesterday's painting. Because the atmosphere was so grey and the landscape so dull, I was hoping it would liven up the painting. Here is my pochade with the completed painting, facing the the view.

This painting is a "ten-footer" painting - it looks much better from 10 feet back! LOL

"Alum Creek", 8 x 10, oil on canvas board

German Lane

I submitted a piece to this week's DPW Painting Challenge. As I painted, I took several in-progress shots:
I printed out Carol's photo and cropped it with a couple of scraps of mat board.

I then took a canvas panel and underpainted it lightly with napthol red acrylic paint. When that was dry, I quickly sketched in a basic layout with a combination of ultramarine blue and quinacridone red oils thinned with Gamsol.

I started with the darks and placed large shapes. I was trying to pay attention to value relationships when I put in the sky and the road. I re-painted those several times!

I was using the photo as inspiration and decided to just go with it to please my eye. I am happy with how it ended up! I had a hard time taking a photo though because of the grain of the canvas and the glare.

"German Lane",  6 x 6 , oil on canvas board

Die Hard Plein Air Painters

Brrrrrr! It was our first day out for the plein air season. It was a brisk 40 degrees with a north wind and misty skies. I stopped by, but only brought my camera and a sketch pad to make some thumbnail sketches. I lasted about 15 minutes, even though I had on layers under my Gore-tex jacket. Hopefully I can make a painting at home which represents the scene and weather.