Saturday Plein Air - Franklin Park

We painted at Franklin Park today. It was a brisk 50 degrees with a breeze and overcast. Such a comfortable refreshing change!

Conservatory View, 8 x 10, oil on board

Playing with Gouache

I've been interested in the artists online who do such neat things with gouache. I finally bought a few tubes of the good stuff and a set of the cheap stuff so I could just play. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to move the paint around. I am so used to oils now.

I did the painting this evening on cold press watercolor paper. The subject was from a DPW Challenge back in April, - here is the link to my original painting in oil. I really liked that painting. This one is just ok for a first try with gouache. I'll figure it out soon enough. That is what playing in the studio is about.

Saturday Plein Air - Scioto Park

Today's location was Scioto Park near Dublin Ohio. It was so much cooler than last week! It was foggy and cool, and very comfortable to paint. I painted small today. After seeing a posting on the Gamblin Artists Color blog about using secondaries as primaries, I decided to experiment. I used Cadmium Orange, Sap Green and Ultramarine Violet, along with white and Chromatic Black. I think these colors suited the hazy cool weather.

Foggy Daybreak, 5 x 7, oil on gessoed mat board

Tragic Loss for Fellow Painter

I follow Carol Marine, the DPW (Daily Paintworks) webpage and participate in some of the weekly challenges. Yesterday, Carol lost her home and studio to the wildfires in Texas. The family escaped with only a few things, but they are safe.

As I was finishing up a piece for the DPW Rectangle Challenge and getting ready to submit to David - Carol's husband who manages the webpages - I read about the fire. I plan on submitting the artwork and donating any proceeds from the sale of my piece back to Carol and David. Here is the link to the Challenge:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenge/BCE72D70-B1A7-44ea-884E-5882A1B9355E

The painting is new version of the painting from Saturday. Here is the comparison of the two:

And this is the piece I will be submitting to the challenge:

Kingwood Vista, 5 x 7, oil on canvas board  

$120

Saturday Plein Air - Kingwood Gardens

It was a blazing hot day today. Right now it is 99 degrees at 6pm. There was a tough group of nine who braved the heat this morning. We painted in Mansfield at the Kingwood Gardens. I painted two 5x7s. I was more interested in taking reference photos so that I could paint in the air conditioning!

Columbus Landscaping Association Garden Tour

Our group was asked to paint in the gardens on the Columbus Landscaping Associaton Garden Tour today. I chose a beautiful house in a gated community off Orange Road. What a beautiful home and wonderful landscaping! I painted two paintings while there. What a great experience!

Studio Work - Heron Pond

I worked in the studio several evenings this week. For this painting, I first used the Gamblin FastMatte Alkyd for the first layer to block in the basic shapes. The next night couple nights, I used my normal Gamblin standard oil paints. I really like the feel of working on top of the FastMatte. I am not sure it if was the dry texture of the Alkyd or just because the paint was dry. I am so used to working on a painting alla prima wet on wet. I also worked larger (11x14) then my normal plein air size of 8x10.

acrylic wash

FastMatte

regular oils

I thought I was done but the 2nd heron was distracting
and also made some other changes

"Heron Pond", 11 x 14, oil on hard board

yART–Art at the MAC

I painted from a photograph while at the art fair. It was a nice day and lots of nice people came through. No sales on my part, but I did sell one of my older pochade boxes to a fellow painter. It got hot and sticky mid-afternoon, and I packed up and headed home.

While at the fair, I got some suggestions from my oil painting teacher and worked on it a little bit after coming home. My underpainting was a golden color and bright red. You can see a bit of it in the first photo below.

The photo I used was underexposed on purpose so that I wouldn't try to copy it exactly. 

"Woodlot"  8x10  oil on hardboard

yArt in the Park

If you are in the Columbus Ohio area, please stop by tomorrow at the MAC and visit with me and the Central Ohio Plein Air group. We will have art for sale and will be painting!
http://www.mcconnellarts.org/wp/archives/6181

Plein Air Saturday–Prairie Oaks Metro Park

We painted at Prairie Oaks today. It was really overcast and drizzling when we arrived. I setup in the shelter house because I was using pastels today. Because I bought a new pochade recently for my oil painting, I decided to gear up my older Guerrilla Painter box for pastels. I already had two of the pastel trays, so bought two more and the palette extensions this week because Judsons had lower prices with free shipping! By the time I was trying to finish up my painting, the sun came out and every cloud disappeared! Talk about chasing the light! I like my finished painting.

Prairie Barn, 9 x 12, pastel on Pastelmat

Palette Cleansers

Just a couple quickie sketches to use up the paint on my palette.

Saturday Plein Air–Glacier Ridge Metro Park

We painted at Glacier Ridge Metro park today. I turned out to be a lovely day. After weeks of 95 degrees and high humidty, today was humid, but in the low 80's and overcast with a nice breeze. I decided to try putting a little video of my progress on the blog today instead of individual photos.

I have a new laptop, and learning about Windows 7 and Windows Live options. Some of it is pretty nice! I like the photo editing package real well, and have most of the options there figured out. And I do like using it to create a blog post.

"Glacier Ridge View"  8x10, oil on panel

I have rigged up a new way of photographing my finished paintings too. I read online about homemade photography tents for lighting objects. I made mine with foamcore board, packing tape and tracing paper. I use clamp-on work lights for lighting. I have finally figured out all the options on my Canon SD1200IS Digital Elph camera and now set white balance and adjust before taking the photos.

Saturday Plein Air–Galena

We painted in Galena today. Everyone was feeling pretty sluggish from the heat and humidity, even though we start early in the day. Several people just couldn’t take it and went home early. The rest of us soldiered on and we got together for our group critique early, about 11pm. Most of us then went over to the Mudflats Bar and Grill for lunch. They have great food and cool AC.

I’m not real happy with my work today, so I am not showing a closeup.

 

Thursday Studio Work

Well, I still had paint on my palette so I gave the wild under-painting technique another go. This one was on a gesso hardboard, so it was a much smoother surface. I used very little solvent and because the paint was several days old, it seemed to have a lot of sheen – which I don’t like. I noticed it most with the titanium white. Is that a problem with that white? Should I try a zinc/titanium mix?





The final painting is just ok. It doesn’t have the pop that the one last night had. But I am learning a lot.

Wednesday Studio Work

I haven't been real happy with my oil paintings lately. They have been just blah.... I know what I WANT to do, but getting the paint and the brush to do it is another thing. The application process has always been difficult for me. I tend to over-blend, use too thin of paint and mix dull colors.

I found some artists online whose work excited and motivated me. I noticed they use very colorful under-paintings, don't try to cover every bit of it, and have thick, clear, clean color. The brushstrokes are very deliberate. So last night, I made a few wild under-paintings. Tonight, I sat down to play, so I could use up the paint on my palette from Saturday. I had a GREAT time and am really happy with how it turned out! I have HOPE!!!

Saturday Plein Air - Goodale Park

We painted at Goodale Park today. Painters among the Segways, Labradoodles, squirrels, joggers and homeless people. It was so hot and humid that there was a haze even at 9am. We painted quickly and headed home by 11am to camp out in the AC.

I can't seem to get a good photo of my painting, but hope you can see it well enough.