Plein Air Paintin...

I joined the PAPWP group on Sunday the 8th at Phipps Conservatory. It ended up being a beautiful day and the gardens were a great place to paint. This painting is from the side gardens looking out across Panther Hollow to the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. 10 x 12 Oil on panel.



This one was a quick grab of some purple flowers that were to my right. I don't recall the name of the flowers(I need to start carrying a notebook to jot down notes),but I had just finished with the Cahtedral painting and a nice beam of sunlight was shining on these purple flowers and the scene was so dramatic. So I moved my easel and started to paint them. Unfortunatly as quickly as the sun hit the flowers, it just as quickly went away. Iwas in a bad position as the sun was behind filtering through a tree. So everything would either be in complete shadow or direct sunlight, depending on how the tree branches moved. So I only spent about fifteen minutes on this. Quick and dirty. 10 x 12 Oil on panel

Paintin...

This is a "plein air" painting I did in the studio(if you can do such a thing). I painted this from a photograph I pulled up on my computer. Even though this is inside, I approached it as if I was painting outside. I spent about two hours on this.
Mostly brush work with some knive painting to ge the crest of the waves and the pier. I also used the knife to create the shadows coming across the beach from the right. I like working with the knife but it is definitly going to take practice to get used to it.

Sketchin...

I have been wanting to do some figure studies for a while now. Just doing the plein air painting is keeping my hands full, but I managed to squeeze this one out in a couple of sittings. I came across this photo from a California photographer. I would love to paint some figures from his work. He has a great sense of dramatic lighting that really highlights the body.
The sketch took about 20 minutes to complete. Finishing it in Conte' crayon took about an hour and a half.

Sketchin...

Here is a recent sketch of some profiles. These are from magazines I sketched from while sitting in front of the tv.

Ramblin...

Phew! Time flys by when you are not looking. Been thirteen days since my last post.
I started the "Essence of Pittsburgh" en plein air workshop this past Saturday.
Was fun and very educational. I think I am going to learn a lot from Ron. The group was small, maybe eight people, which was nice as it kept the one-on-one time more personal. Very nice group of artists and I look forward to painting with them all again next Saturday. First Ron talked about his pallete set up and color choices. We are using a limited pallete of Thalo Green, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Yellow Lemon and Titanium White.
Okay, it doesn't sound so limited, but when I was trying to capture the color of a tree trunk before the sun moved and the color changed, I panicked and struggled. I just wanted to grab a tube of Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre. But that is the point of taking this class, to learn something new and paint a little differently than I normally do. I actually like the limited pallete, as it forces me to learn better color mixing skills. I plan to create some color charts this week using that pallete.
After discussing his pallete and basic set up for painting outdoors, Ron did a demonstration and explained some of the difficulty and challanges of painting outdoors. Not only dealing with the elements and people, but mainly how you have to quickly capture the light of the scene before it changes.
After Ron's demo we had about 45 minutes of time left so he let us loose and we took up positions through the grounds of the art center and painted. I will post a photo soon. I have about 3 painting to post, just waiting for an oppurtunity to photograph them.

Been a while since I last posted, so I thought I should check in. Been hard to find the time to create art. I did get out this past sunday with the plein air group. I completed two paintings, one in hast as I was losing light. I think I improved some in my brush work, but I am still struggling with color mix and temerature.
Saturday we went to the Lawranceville art crawl, which was interesting. Highlight of the walking tour was stopping by Ron Donohue's studio. His work was georgeous in person and i cant wait to start the workshop he is teaching at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

I will post my paintings from Sunday as soon as I get a chance.

Heres my plein air from Sunday. I am still having trouble getting good pictures, but this will work.
This is the playground across the street from my house. It was an overcast day, but every ten minutes or so the sun would break through and gave me some nice shadows.
I tried to limit my palette to the following colors: Ultramarine Blue, Cadnium Yellow Light, Burnt Umber, Alizarin Crimson, Titanium White and Ivory Black. I am still trying to wrap my brain around color temperature, I understand it, but it tends to get lost on me during the painting process. I will post this on wetcanvas for some advice. I am sure someone will be able to advise me on how to warm up the painting, being that it is mostly cool colors.