Plein Air Saturday - High Banks Metro Park

Green, green, and more green. We painted at High Banks Metro park today in the Big Meadows area. It was hard to find a nice composition because everything is the same color of green! I setup looking to the east while I sat in the back of my mini-SUV.

When I was finished, I realized I had not used any Cad Red from my palette, which surprised me. I just used a bit of Burnt Sienna.

I rearranged the trees and removed the center tree so that the horizon tree line was more evident.

Deja Vu - all over again.... Process shots

"Beyond", 10 x 14, pastel on suede mat board

Does this subject look familiar? I was asked to prepare a "process presentation" to be shown at the MAC. This will show how I work en plein air, and use that alla prima painting as a sketch for a larger studio painting. Since my favorite medium is pastels, I decided to use them for the final painting.

Below is my oil painting that I posted a few posts back from the recent workshop. Beside it is a little 'work-up' sketch done in pastels so that I could decide on which pastels to use. I think it's a cute little painting too, although very casual and loose.

My oil painting from the workshop on May 14th on the left, and a pastel work-up on the right.

A large piece of grey suede mat board was masked off in the final size. I prefer to work on a larger piece so that I won't have to mount this on another board later when I mat and frame it. You can see my initial sketch on the grey board.

Here you see the final larger pastel along side the two earlier works.

Here are process shots - 1) sketch 2) first color pass and 3) final painting

Starting on July 5 my presentation will hang at the MAC for 3 weeks in the Geissbuhler Gallery.

Veggies

I played around on some small panels using up the paint on my palette from yesterday. Artichoke and baby bok choy. Unfortunately, I waited too long to actually cook and eat these, but I love how the paintings turned out.

Submitted to the Paint Your Vegetables challenge on DPW Challenge site.

"Baby Bok Choy", 5 x 7, oil

"Purple Artichoke", 5 x 7, oil

Plein Air Saturday - Malabar Farm

"Malabar Peonies", 8 x 10, oil on board

Today we visited Malabar Farm State Park near Lucas Ohio. This is author Louis Bromfield's farm (my favorite part of the history -  Lauren Becall and Humphrey Bogart were married in the parlor of the 'big house'). I painted just outside the big house in the garden where the peonies were starting to bloom. Very hard to get the right color and feel of the peonies - and even harder to photograph my painting and get the colors correct.

This from the farm's website:

"In the rolling countryside of Richland County, Louis Bromfield, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and dedicated conservationist, created his dream — Malabar Farm. Inspired by his love of the land, Bromfield restored the rich fertility of the farmlands and preserved the beauty of the woodlands. He built a 32-room country home, where his family, friends and neighbors could share the pleasure of life on the farm.

In 1976, Malabar became one of Ohio's state parks. As a park, Malabar Farm is dedicated to perpetuating Bromfield's farming philosophies, preserving the Big House and its many artifacts, and providing a place where visitors can explore life on a farm and the beauty of nature."

Plein Air Workshop Paintings

I tweaked these just a bit today and here are the final paintings:

Path Through Hedges, 8 x 10, oil

Red Barn, 8 x 10, oil

Plein Air Workshop with Michael Chesley Johnson

I just returned from my plein air painting workshop in Lima, Ohio with artist Michael Chesley Johnson for two days. I had a great time! I think it was one of my most relaxing, stress-free workshops ever. All the people were really nice and laid back, but I'm glad to be home!!

 

Please see attached announcement of my exhibit at Worthington United Methodist church. I am pleased to show eighteen of my pastel and oil paintings.

I have studied with local artists Jim Glover, Charles Rowland, Angela Gage, Meredith Martin and Stan Pierce. I am an active member of the Worthington Area Art League and Central Ohio Plein Air.

Self Portrait

The DPW Painting Challenge this week was "All about Me" - a self-portrait. I had some paint leftover on my palette from yesterday, so grabbed a small panel that was a goof-up (used for another project but it was not good enough to keep) and painted over it. I like how it turned out with the primary colors showing, from the other project, in the background. Although it doesn't look too much like me - maybe younger, thinner, etc...

This was the first painting painted in my sunroom on my new easel. I'd moved into my new condo almost a year ago, and bought the easel 8 months ago.... but have done most of my painting either in my studio or plein air. This was a good project to christen the sunroom!

All about Me?, 3 x 5, oil

Here's the pic I painted from:

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.

DPW Painting Challenge - Help Japan Challenge - SOLD

I have posted an older watercolor on the DPW Painting Challenge auction to benefit victims in Japan. Click below,

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenge/FC50B15D-5016-4E5E-87F2-87C3F79BA65B

SOLD!

Leaf and Butterfly

Last Saturday at the MAC - Carnations

Today was the last Saturday my group will be painting inside - next week we will go plein air. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. We had several still lifes of flowers setup to paint today. I chose yellow carnations which I brought from home.

This is pastels on suede mat board. The mat board was bright scarlet red. You might see some of it peaking through. The first photo shows the painting midway through. The final photo is after finished it at home. It was difficult to get a true color photo, but I am pleased with this painting.

DPW - White Vase

I painted a piece for the DPW Painting Challenge. This week's challenge was to paint something white laying on a colorful cloth.  I felt like I overworked this. I was hoping to be more selective with brushstrokes but blended more than I intended.

Pastel - Foothills

"Foothills" - 8 x 10 - pastel on suede mat board