Saturday Plein Air - Westerville Wetlands

The weather held off and gave us a beautiful day today! We painted at the wetlands in Westerville. This is one of my favorite spots. Lots of interesting views. The golden rod and asters are slowly fading away, and luckily we got a chance to include them in our paintings.

This was my view. Although it's difficult to see from this photo, the large pond is in view. I wanted to keep the golden rod and asters as the main focus.

 I was trying out a new technique to get the composition down with the darks. I used an Art Graf stick of water soluble graphite. I've used water soluble graphite pencils in the past, but wanted something that would cover the areas easier than a pencil tip. The stick is a good choice!  Below is the first sketch:

 Then I wet it with alcohol so it would dry quicker than water. Nice darks!

 Below are continuing process shots:

 And the final painting. I made a few adjustments at home, but very few.

Fall's Departure, 8x10, pastel on UArt sanded paper.

Saturday Plein Air - Three Creeks Metro Park

Fall is here! This morning, temps were in the 50's with overcast skies. By the time I got on the road the sun was out in my end of town, but closer to Three Creeks Metro park, there was fog! Beautiful with the sun behind it, and before I got unloaded, it was gone. It was still pretty cool to be painting bare handed, but luckily found a pair of the stretchy winter gloves in the car. They were paint covered from last year!

We were painting under the pine tree canopy overlooking the Turtle Pond. I always love to paint pines, so had to include those in my painting.

I was painting on a gesso'd masonite board which I had pre-toned with a soft oxide red. This surface works best for me, as I dislike the weave of canvas. Process shots below:

Since the painting is wet, it's hard to get a good photograph with the glare.

  on-site shot

 studio shot

Turtle Pond Fall, 8x10, oil on panel

Saturday Plein Air - Shale Hollow

We painted today at one of my favorite, quiet, nearby parks. This is a heavily wooded park, so it is a bit dark for painting, but we always enjoy painting there. I decided to paint the rocks in the creek. It turned into a very abstract design.

Here's a few process shots. It got to a point where I couldn't judge my colors or values after it got cloudy, so had to add some final touches after I got home.

On the Rocks, 8x10, oil on board

Paint Camp!

I organize an annual retreat "paint camp" for my local group. We have the same people who keep coming back and this was the 3rd year. I was hoping to create more work than I did, but even so, I had a great time.

My first pastel  - this was the morning view looking to the east.

 I started with a 8x10 piece of UArt sanded paper.

 I was in a hurry to get those shadows in, and did an alcohol wash over Nupastels:

I was in having difficulty in concentrating because to my right, there were roofers who arrived about the time I got to the step above, adding their colorful language, cigarette smoke, and country music.

I packed up and took my gear down to the beach and finished up this painting. I ended up cutting this down to a better composition as a 5x7 and I love it!!

While I was at the beach, I decided to paint this view:

The last piece was created sitting on the porch at the lodge looking across the yard to this nearby cottage:

I had to work really quickly to get this one done before dinner, and so I moved some of the chairs around and blurred the background.

Check out my travel blog to see more about the camp:  

http://nartizttravels.blogspot.com/

Saturday Plein Air - Gantz Gardens

Since I work fulltime, I HATE to set an alarm for Saturday morning plein air. Today, I woke quite late at 8am! Yikes! Got ready to go fairly quickly, but it was still over 30 minutes drive to our location today. Thank goodness for my coffee!

So I worked small, quickly, and loosely on a pastel. Since I use reading glasses, it works for me to paint without them, that way I don't nit-pick over details and the end painting is very loose. Process shots below. 

I enjoyed seeing some butterflies while I worked in the herb garden at Gantz Gardens/Farm. I was painting the Autumn Clematis on the arbor. I'd put down a vibrant under painting before I left home onto the pastel paper.

Saturday Plein Air - Sycamore Creek park

Today was beautiful! The weather finally broke from a long string of weeks of hot humid weather. We painted in Pickerington at their city park, Sycamore Creek. We've painted here in the past, and we looked forward to painting there again.

I painted looking across the pond to the willows. I've been working on brushwork and color mixing and feel I have achieved Ohio Green in my recent paintings. Now I need to work on painting more things than just TREES!

The surface I painted on today was a masonite panel with gesso that I toned with a warm tone. This brand of gesso dried very rough and really sucked the oil out of my paint. I don't mind that generally, but this was a bit too much. I may have to put another coat with a different brand on top of the other panels I prepared at the same time.

I have also been testing different devices for taking my photos in the field. Today, I was using my cellphone camera with an app I downloaded. The original cell phone camera is good, but there are only minimal options for customization, so I thought I'd try an app. I found "Open Camera" which has a huge number of settings, just like a regular camera. I thought this was going to be great! I've been disappointed in it, so may have to delete it.

I also recently bought a Nikon point and shoot camera. It has it's own quirks. I've been a Canon buyer for years, but thought I'd give Nikon a shot. Seems like I can't get a happy medium. The photos below are a combination of cell phone and Nikon.

 Added basic composition with a compressed charcoal.

 Midway into painting. Sucking the oil out of the paint, but liked the dry brush look.

Willows, 9x12, oil on panel

Saturday Plein Air - Battelle Darby Creek metro park

I've been painting each Saturday, but posted on my Facebook Artist page instead of here. Sorry!

This week, we were at Battelle Darby Creek metro park near the nature center. It was way too hot to hike to find the buffalo, so most of us stayed in the shade at the nature center. I was looking through this opening to paint the couple of sycamore trees along the trail:

It has been a few weeks since I worked in pastels, so brought them today. I was using a piece of Pastelmat paper which was previously toned with gouache in a golden color.

It came together pretty quickly. I like it!