Saturday Plein Air - Molly's Sunflowers

Today we had a lovely setting to paint - we were invited to visit the home of one of our member's son and daughter-in-law. The 23 acres were beautiful, but I decided to stay close to Molly's studio and paint the vase of sunflowers.

Process shots below:

New Exhibit Opening this Week!

I just delivered these two pieces of art today to the High Road Gallery:

"Check Mate", 12"x 16", oil on canvas wrapped board

"Buckeye Repose", 4"x 10", photography

The exhibit opens this Wednesday, Aug. 27th - Please visit!

"Not Just Apples on a Table - Still Life Alive" Exhibit

Free exhibit and reception at the High Road Gallery, Worthington, Ohio! 

The show runs from Aug 27th - Sept 27th. The gallery is open W-Sat, 12-4pm.

Artists' Reception and Award Ceremony: Sunday Sept 7, 2-4pm.

Info on the website:
http://www.highroadgallery.com/visit/index.htm

Studio Work - Garden House

I am getting ready for a small solo show in December at one of the metro parks. I did a quick pastel in the studio of their meeting house today.

I used UArt 400 grit and added some white and black gesso thinned down to establish some light and darks and let it dry before I started with the pastel sticks. I had a printed photograph but it was not quite the composition I wanted, so I had the edited photo up on the laptop and mostly used this as reference.

Process shots below:

Chess Board Pochade

I like to visit thrift stores to find interesting stuff to use for my art - either as a reference subject, a tool for the studio, or to build things for painting outdoors.

A few months ago, I found a nice wooden folding chess board with the chess pieces inside for $2.79. My first inclination was to use it to store art supplies. A woman saw me carrying it around the store and remarked that some of the chess pieces were missing. I remarked that I didn't care because I wasn't going to play! She probably wondered why I wanted it - too hard to explain to non-artists why we do the things we do..... hahaha.  The board actually prompted me to use it in a still life setup for an oil painting for an upcoming show! I will be unveiling that painting in a couple weeks.

This week, I got back to building something with the board. I am a fan of James Gurney and he recently created a new video Watercolor in the Wild. In this video, he shares his pared down art kit for painting outdoors. I have painted in watercolor in the past and thought that using some of his ideas would be a great way of capturing some scenes on some of my upcoming trips. I am hoping to go overseas and although I paint in oils or pastels now, it can be difficult to travel with those. I also want to spend more time enjoying the scenery without painting. Doing quick sketches in watercolor will accomplish both and be easy to travel with.

SO! With some ideas from James, I created a new Chess Board Pochade kit! I wonder if I am the first artist to have such an elegant painting box? I mounted a "tee nut" in one side of the box which attaches to a tripod quick release adapter. I have a nice small Manfrotto tripod which travels well - it is a full size tripod but folds down to about 18".

For the inside, I added a lightweight piece of chain (adjustable) to hold the bottom half at whatever angle I require. (By the way, since I am left handed, I put the chain on the right and I work on the 'backside' of the paper in the booklet.)

I used some items I already had - an older watercolor box already filled with my preferred pigments, a sketchbook with watercolor paper, and a tin with brushes, water brushes, watercolor pencils, pencil sharpener, and paper towel.

 The only things that would not fit inside when closed, were the tiny plastic water jar, and a collapsible water bottle.

I recently ordered one of the watercolor sketchbooks which James recommended (shown below) which is a bit larger. I have also ordered one of the mini folding metal watercolor palettes he recommended and it should be here soon. It will give me more mixing area.

I'm tickled that this worked out. I can see using this locally for oils or pastel also. It makes a simple organized painting box!

UPDATE - I have created a new painting box from scratch! Please check out my new post here:
http://nartizt.blogspot.com/2014/11/busy-busy.html

Upcoming Events!!

Please visit my upcoming events in the Columbus Ohio area:

“yART at the MAC”

Art market! Please come and see/buy some of my newest artwork. I will be located within the Worthington Area Art League's tent.

The annual yART - Art on the yard of the MAC - McConnell  Arts Center, Evening St., Worthington, Ohio. Saturday, Aug 16th, 9-2.

http://www.mcconnellarts.org/wp/archives/9330

“Ohio Pastel Artists League (OPAL) Fall Exhibit”

Free exhibit and reception! Come see the artwork of the OPAL group. I will be showing 4 pastel paintings and offer them for sale at the Arts Castle, Delaware, Ohio. 

Reception on Sat. Aug 16th 4-6pm

The show runs from Aug 18th - Oct 17th. 

Contact the Arts Castle for open hours:
http://artscastle.org/exhibits.html

"Not Just Apples on a Table - Still Life Alive" Exhibit

Free exhibit and reception at the High Road Gallery, Worthington, Ohio! Come see a whimsical oil painting and a cool photograph which I have created for this show! Both will be for sale. 

The show runs from Aug 27th - Sept 27th. The gallery is open W-Sat, 12-4pm.

Artists' Reception and Award Ceremony: Sunday Sept 7, 2-4pm.

Info on the website:
http://www.highroadgallery.com/visit/index.htm


"OPAL Exhibit at SUNBEAR  STUDIOS & GALLERY"
ALEXANDRIA, OHIO

Opening:  August 29, 2014 from   7 pm  to  9 pm
The exhibit runs through September 26

http://www.sunbearstudio.com/

Saturday Plein Air - Alum Creek Galena Boat Ramp

We had to work quickly today to beat the storms. We wrapped up about 10:45. I had started an 8x10 of the view across the inlet, but my surface was giving me fits and not holding the paint. So I wiped it off. Sometimes that is a good way of loosening up for a better painting. 

I got out another canvas wrapped 6x6 panel which was already toned from a previous failed start. This time I tried to simplify and work quickly. I liked the view across from the boat ramp of the stand of interesting trees:

I worked fast and used the palette knife and was very happy how this turned out after 35-45 minutes - success!!

"Three Tree View", 6x6, oil on canvas wrapped board

Tinkering - Building a Still Life Box

If you've been to this blog before, you know I love to tinker, especially with foam core board. Recently, I was working on a couple still life paintings for an upcoming exhibit. I've always had a rough time getting the lighting the way I'd like for painting still life from life. I did a Google search and found Mark Carder's webpage and videos  http://www.drawmixpaint.com/videos/ and thought his idea for building a shadow box was great! Just what I was looking for, although his is pretty large and heavy. If you are a painter, it is well worth your time to check him out. I have learned a lot from him, and still haven't seen all his videos. To understand what I was building, please watch his video about the shadow box, but come back here and see what I came up with!

I have a small bedroom setup for a studio and his shadow box wouldn't work for me, so I have used some of his ideas to create something smaller. I tried a couple setups, but don't have photos available of those but have pics of my final design below. First, I used an upside down parsons table for the framework so I didn't have to build it from lumber. That was still too big to move around easily in the studio, so I then took a small plastic shelving unit apart and used some of those pieces to create some upward "legs" to hold the top. For both designs to make a top, I used a large frame mounted with a piece of black cardboard, with a slot in the middle for the light to shine through. Still, I wasn't satisfied. On to the foam core board.

I built a box out of black foam core and glued it with an Elmer's Board Mate glue pen -
 http://elmers.com/product/detail/E140 I found this at Michael's Crafts near the foam core board, and it works great!

I liked the idea of having the three sides solid to be able to control the light better. I added two cross bars across the top edges to stabilize it. They are glued, but used black masking tape to hold it while it was drying.

 I left a slot near the back bar, so that I could easily add a backdrop of fabric. You could add fabric to the side walls and floor also.

Now to show you the top and the lighting 'slot' - this is the same piece of black cardboard I had used in the frame for the earlier versions. To lighten the weight, I removed it from the frame. It is stiff enough to hold my lightweight lighting setup. Because I wanted the 'slot' to be narrower, I added another piece of cardboard to narrow it. The black side now gets flipped over. The black is best inside to be able to control the light within the box.

 Look at the crazy thing I decided to use as a 'light director" - I found this plastic cone at the thrift shop. It is a gag gift - an 'ear megaphone' for a 'hearing aid'!! It was perfect for threading the wire of my lighting set through, and light weight. I put a small 14 watt mini bulb inside.

 You will notice I have moved it from one side of the slot to the other (or anywhere in between). This is to place the light direction in a pleasing spot on your subject. You can also move the whole board so the slot is closer to the back or front of the box, depending on where you want your light to hit.

 Here you can see, I have added some small pieces of black foam core to block out the unused parts of the slot.

 Here is an overall view of the rig, placed on a rolling cart - easy to move around to get it in the correct viewing spot to paint!

Here are some other shots showing you how the light changes as you move the light fixture.

And finally, if you don't want the light coming from the top, you can easier turn the box on the side and direct your light at a lower level:

Now I feel it will be super easy to get some dramatic lighting on my still life setups! You'll probably see many more still life paintings showing up here. After we plein air painters wrestle with the greens of summer, I can come back to my studio and design my own views!

Saturday Plein Air - Westerville Alum Creek City Park

On the way to painting today, I got to see the wild turkeys I had been seeing each morning on the way to work. Today was special though! I saw the mom and a bunch of babies (poults)!! I really am happy when I see wild turkeys - they've made quite a rebound in Ohio. I see them quite often these days.

But, it was a rough day painting today. I did not mind the drizzle, but had difficulty mixing the right colors. Not sure if it was the pigments I selected, the subject matter, or the dark skies. I attempted two paintings, but both needed wiped out and repainted once I was home. That still did not help much but here is the only half-way decent piece - the other I wiped out again and gave up.

 Such a difficult color to mix in oils! Below is the way it looked on site.

 Here it is at home after I wiped it out. Should have left it like this -

 And here is how it turned out. I just couldn't get the brightness I wanted to make the flowers pop.