Saturday Doreen St John Workshop

Spent today in a pastel workshop on water and reflections with Doreen St John. We had a full room full of 15 students and we all had a great time! I didn't take many in-process shots, but a few are shown below. I worked on a 11x14 gray Ampersand Pastelbord. I need to do just a few final adjustments.

Saturday Plein Air - Wetlands

After rain, rain, rain, and more rain - we finally had a BEAUTIFUL day for plein air! We painted at a small wetlands in a neighborhood park. This used to be a boggy area, but the park department reconstructed it into very pretty wetlands with boardwalks, stepping stones, wildflowers, and interesting trees. 

Although we are pretty far north for Bald Cypress trees, there are several planted in the wetlands and they seem to be thriving. Their "knees" really caught my eye and I decided to paint while standing on a boardwalk.

Today I tried out a Richeson Gesso Board which came toned in a warm color. It worked very well for me, I will certainly use them again. I also tried out the new Gamblin Solvent Free Fluid Medium, which worked really well also. 

Although my easel was facing east, I was looking to my right to the south to paint the cypress beside me, as the boardwalk was fairly narrow and was busy with kids on bikes and people walking dogs. Process shots below. 

 

"Knobby Knees", 8x10, oil on Richeson gesso board, warm toned. 

Micro Pastel Travel Set

WOW, can't believe that here it is July 5th and my last post was June 15th. I've been busy doing several creative things, but nothing much to show for it. I'm preparing for an upcoming trip and although my main focus on this trip will be oil painting within my workshop, I wanted to take along a little kit of pastels. I'm trying to travel very light and hope to only check one suitcase and have a carryon. It's hard to have any room for clothes when you would prefer to fill the bags with art supplies.

So, here is the micro pastel set I put together today. My friend Michael Chesley Johnson authored an article about an Extreme Limited Pastel Palette in 2008 and since I will be working with Michael on my trip, I put together a set like his, on the left. I also wanted to bring along a few other colors shown at the right. Most of these are NuPastel and a few Faber Castell Polychromos.

Then I used a Clear Bag "box" that holds my 5x7 pastel papers (UArt and Pastelmat), clear bags to hold the finished paintings, a backer board, and rubber bands to hold the papers while painting.

That could be enough supplies to paint with, but I had to include a cute little tin suitcase my friend Wendy bought for me at Savannah. I filled it with a few short pastel pencils/sharpener, a piece of foam for blending, and a small piece of a microfiber towel to clean the pastels and my fingers. I also made a little view finder in the 5x7 ratio.

 Everything fits nicely into a zipper bag, with room for a pack of wet-wipes.

Tweaking My Painting Box

I'm always changing my painting gear attempting to come up with the perfect setup for me. Although I have to admit, the designing and building is sometimes more fun than actually painting on the stuff! HA!  Last week I'd made the new hanging box, hoping to use it for more mixing room, but I realized it would work best for just a shelf for "stuff". Why not get a bigger painting setup? Because I am trying to get this smaller gear perfected to fit into luggage for plane travel. My small painting box has traveled with me all over the US and worked well, but needed just a few tweaks.

I have numerous painting setups (smaller and larger) but I prefer this small one. It is an EasyL Prochade by Artwork Essentials. It's too small for most people as you can only paint on a canvas from 6" - 10" tall. But 8x10 is a good size for me painting outside in the short amount of time we have to paint before the light changes.

Before

The original setup of this box was made for right handed people with a left side extension. I had drilled holes in this to hold my paint brushes, but since I am left handed, they were in the way.  I decided to put a thin piece of plywood over the extension to cover the holes so I could use it for extra mixing surface. I then made brush holder for the right side.

backside of original left extension

left extension with thin plywood added, mounted on box

Then I took a smaller piece of plywood and added a small square dowel which will be held on the right side of the box with micro clamps. I drilled holes for the brushes later:

Here's the final setup, ready to paint! The lower hanging box is great to lay down "stuff". All of this fits nicely into my rolling backpack. Hopefully this will work well this summer. But who knows, I may come up with another project!

Saturday Plein Air - Glick Park

I've missed posting for a couple weeks for various reasons. This week we painted near the Columbus Zoo at the O'Shaughnessy dam across the Scioto river. There's a nice little park there overlooking the water and dam.

Today I wanted to work on my color mixing and wasn't too concerned about a pretty composition. I also was trying out a new hanging accessory for more mixing space. I made the lower wooden box this week. It was difficult to use for mixing though, because of the angle and depth, so will use this new one for holding stuff like my palette knife and mineral spirits, etc.

I plan a different idea for the left hand tray on the upper box. Because I am left handed, the tray on the left on the top box is in my way when I put my paint brushes in the holes. I think I will build one for the right side, and also remake the left tray to use for extra mixing space.

Process shots of today's painting:

"Under the Dam", 6x10, Multimedia board coated with gesso

Sunday Sewing??

I didn't paint last Saturday with the plein air group because I had to deliver "Checkmate" to the Zanesville Museum of Art. Saw many of the other entries - WOW - it's going to be another exceptional show! Can't wait to visit the show once it is hung. (June 11- August 21st)

Instead of painting, I decided to get out my sewing machine, which has been neglected for about 10 years now. I was previously heavily into the "art quilt" movement for a good 15 years. Once I moved to Columbus I decided to switch to painting. I'd thought it would be easier to sell paintings. (HA!)

I'd been seeing some really interesting aprons online lately and decided to draft out a pattern for one I liked which is based on Japanese work aprons with crossed straps instead of ties. Luckily, my draft worked perfectly for my build (ie: wide and tall, lol) and fit like a glove.(The patterns available online fit normal size people, so had to make my own) After I sewed it yesterday, I agreed with the prices I saw for these on Etsy! It would be hard for me to make these for any less.

I'll use mine for use while painting. There's one other style I need to try and found some great fabric in the clearance at Hobby Lobby. I'll get that one sewed soon so I can use my painting table again! I did have to laugh - it all comes around - while digging out my sewing supplies, I found my stash of art quilts.....

Saturday Plein Air - Glacier Ridge Metro Park

Today's location was Glacier Ridge Metro Park. I was drawn to the stand of trees and decided to zoom in to one. 

"Mighty", 8"x10", oil on gesso board