Saturday Plein Air - Dawes Arboretum

Another beautiful Saturday for painting! We had a nice size group of painters today at Dawes Arboretum in Newark Ohio. I took many reference photos of scenes, but not many of the other painters because we were spread out all over 1,800 acres.

I decided to work on my pastels today and wanted to keep things loose and colorful. I had a couple of failed pastel paintings on UArt sanded paper that I wanted to reuse. Last night, I brushed off most of the pigment and then used a wash of mineral spirits to dissolve the rest back into the grit.

I feel I had a very successful day. Below are process shots of my first pastel of the day:

"Tall Trees", 6"x9", pastel on 320 grit UArt

Then I moved about 150 yards to the east and painted the barn in the distance:

"Farm Lane", 8"x10", pastel on 400 grit UArt sanded paper

Saturday Plein Air - Olentangy Park

It was a glorious day for plein air! We finally had a nice morning - sunshine and 70's. We painted at Olentangy Park. I did a 6x6 casein painting on Multi-media board and a small pastel on Multi-media board for pastels.

Please Visit my New Web Page!

With some pushing from my artist friends, I finally have a web page! Please check it out!

http://www.nancyvance.com/

Saturday Plein Air - Red Bank Marina

Another cold and rainy Saturday. We just can't seem to get a break - of course, I will be complaining once it gets too hot! A handful of us showed up at Red Bank Marina and luckily there is a covered picnic shelter.

I got started and got to the point where I was 'noodling' too much.

 I wasn't happy with the way this was going, so I took a paper towel and wiped off the right side of the painting and softened the left hand tree.

 Much better! I will use that trick again! Then it was much easier to get to a finish I was happy with:

Red Bank Point, 8x10, oil

Painting Retreat 2014

Just back from my COPA painting retreat that I have been organizing this year. We had a great time and everyone seemed to enjoy it! I was a bit distracted being in a new place, making my painters comfortable, and then trying to find a spot to paint! So I only painted 3 paintings.... and one of those was inside using a still life setup since it was a bit rainy.

 Forgive the pink photos, I was having a hard time seeing the scene on my camera screen and changed to a different setting.

My painting "River Snag" won Honorable Mention!

 My painting, "River Snag", pastel, won Honorable Mention in the WAAL show at High Road Gallery!!! Judge Sharon Weiss of Sharon Weiss Gallery in the Short North commented, "wonderful shadows, depth and color".

Saturday Plein Air - Shale Hollow Preserve

Today, a few of us again braved the grey damp skies to paint at Shale Hollow Preserve. This is the newest of Delaware County's parks and one of my favorite because it is so quiet and peaceful. Because it was drippy rainy, I setup under the shelter of my hatchback. I wanted to give my small pastel selection a try, so needed to stay dry. The smaller palette was fine, but I need to refine the selection a bit. I was working on UArt 320 grit paper today. I like it.

Process shots below: