Plein Air Crush

This week I am coming down off of an exciting weekend in Floyd County, Virginia, where I participated in the inaugural plein air event called Plein Air Crush. In total there were about 19 artists participating over the course of the weekend, with judging and awards taking place on Sunday. This year the event centered around Chateau Morrisette Winery, which has some interesting architectural features, lovely gardens and vineyards, not to mention a fine restaurant and some pretty tasty wine. It sounds luxurious doesn't it? But keep in mind I was not doing much sipping. Instead I was schlepping; schlepping a bunch of art gear and standing for hours, out in the elements. It was hard on the body but rewarding for the spirit, and I had a good time painting the new-to-me scenery and meeting other artists.

We converged on Friday evening for a little meet and greet, but the painting portion of the event kicked off on Saturday, where we faced the threat of rain and some pretty dark skies. Painting in these conditions is really challenging because the value range is very limited and the light fairly flat. So I decided to set up in the vineyard where I found opportunities for some strong linear elements and soft edges that provided interesting compositional options:

  "Vineyard in Gray Light", oil on panel, 9x12"

In the afternoon I decided to venture a little further afield to paint a view of Buffalo Mountain: "Buffalo Mountain View", oil on linen, 8x8"

Sunday was the quick draw. It was incredibly windy. Worse than clouds and rain, wind conditions are a nearly impossible situation for the plein air painter because of the danger of having your entire setup topple and/or take flight.  The wind at the winery required that most painters seek a shelterd place unless they had a good way of weighting their setup (which I didn't).

Down at the vineyard though it was much warmer and virtually windless. I hadn't really planned on doing another vineyard piece but I figured it was my best option for success when we had a time limit.

"Sunlit Vines", oil on linen, 9x12"

We had three hours for the quick draw (which is actually pretty generous). At the alotted time we had to deliver our quick draw painting and the other works we had completed during the event and set up for judging. Steve Doherty, artist and editor of Plein Air Magazine was the judge. I didn't win any awards but it was cool to meet him and I learned a lot about my painting, and even a bit about myself as well.

Setting up for the judgement back up at the winery

Here I am happy and tired. The wind blew up a bunch of dirt on my paintings. I have managed to get most of it off of the two vineyard pieces, but the Buffalo Mountain one was painted really thickly and I don't think that stuff is going to budge. Oh well...that's plein air for you! It was good winery soil at least.

I came home to a messy house and a bunch of dirty laundry, but it was a fair trade for having had time off from mommy duties to do my thing for a whole weekend. (Thanks honey!) :-)

Summer by the Shore

As much as I love the dramatic light of a sunrise or sunset at the beach,  full-on sunshine makes me conjure up lazy days and summer vacations. So as I sent my wee-one off the kindergarten today I guess I can admit that I have been feeling a little nostalgic (already!) for those long duty-free days filled with sandcastle building,  sun and sand between my toes:

"Summer by the Shore" Water Miscible Oils on Linen, 16x20" To purchase, contact me!

I had such a fun time with this one. It was almost a way of teleporting myself back to the beach. I especially enjoyed painting the figures. Here is a detail  of some of them:

In fact, I had so much fun that I may even do another painting with just these two girls frolicking in the waves.

As I mentioned in my prior post, I am loving painting in the studio with water miscible oils. I will still work with traditional oils outdoors, mainly because I have quite a large supply of them in my stock. But gradually, in spite of some early struggles, I feel I am getting the hang of painting with the WS variety. I am loving that they are solvent and odor free, and have managed to work with them in a way that creates a lovely rich texture. This is helped greatly by my new Rosemary & Co. brushes, I might add. If you paint, do yourself a favor and check these out!

One of my struggles early on was that the water soluble oils weren't playing too well with my natural bristle brushes. Even after I realized that I shouldn't thin with water and wipe the water out of  my brushes thoroughly  between washing, my bristle brushes would get fairly flabby after a while. I really dislike synthetic brushes because they lack the spring and paint load abilities of a natural hair. Enter Ivory and Eclipse brushes by Rosemary & Co. These are synthetic brushes, but they behave much more like natural hair bristle brushes. Amazing! They really hold the paint and have just the right amount of spring in them. And the prices are quite reasonable as well. If I were to pick just one type ( though why would I want to do that?!) I'd go for the Ivory because they are more like the bristle brushes I normally paint with for my direct painting method. But the Eclipse, which are touted as a "synthetic mongoose" are really nice as well for finer details and soft edges. I really look forward to trying out some of the other styles as time and money allows. Meanwhile, I think I'll head back to the beach soon (by way of the easel!)

Sunrise Stroll

Back in spring as I was packing up and/or discarding my earthly belongings, I had imagined that by fall we would have begun working on a new studio at the new house. "Oh, I'll be up and running by winter," I thought. Well, I may have been a "tad" optimistic as we haven't come close to deciding how or even where we will fashion one.  In light of the constant waffling, we finally decided to rent a little temporary workspace for me, to take the pressure off a bit.

Viola! My little space. It's certainly a far cry from my former studio. It's tiny, it's dark, it's plain...but it's mine (at least temporarily). And I couldn't be happier to be back at work. :-)

What's missing in this picture is, of course, the easel. I will keep things simple (and light) by using my Soltek in here. I have also added a few additional lights to brighten things up a bit and make things a bit easier on the eyes.

To kick off the occasion, I dove into a subject I have been dying to develop since I painted it on location this summer- The Outer Banks of North Carolina. I was especially keen to dive into the concept of the sunrise, having tackled in en plein air in July:

 "Sunrise Stroll" Oil on Linen, 20x24" Contact me to purchase!

 Because I am renting this space and the ventilation is poor, I will only use water miscible oils here. So this, friends, marks another inaugural moment, of sorts--my first studio painting with Royal Talens Cobra water miscible paints.  I have to say, I am loving these paints in the studio. They stay open longer than my traditional oils, which makes it easier to manipulate edges  and build up to lovely, lush texture without having to do it all alla prima.  The only criticism I have at the moment is that the Titanium White in this brand is rather weak. Maybe I just need to get used to the tinting properties of the other paint colors,  but I used  almost half of a 150 ML tube of paint on this one 20x24" painting. (And that's not *much* of an exaggeration.)  Otherwise, though, I am having a great time and am so happy to have a room to call my own to create and leave all of my toys lying about.

A Splash of Light on Howard Street

Aside from painting on my back patio, I really haven't done much plein air painting in my new town. Now that the heat seems to be letting up, I am aiming to change that. Here's a start. I see this scene during my morning walk/runs and have admired the fall of light as it spills across the shrubbery, taking center stage as the old Victorian sits austerely in the background.

"A Splash of Light on Howard Street" Oil on linen, 10x10" Contact me for more info!

Watching the Waves

Here is the last plein air painting I did at the beach last week. It was a quickie, started around 4:30 or so and wrapping up around 6PM. Watching the waves is one of my favorite things to do when I'm at the beach.

"Watching the Waves" Water miscible oils on linen, 8x8" To purchase, please contact me!

What is it about the ocean that calls us so? I guess it is the mystery of it. Or maybe it's the rhythm of the tides? Or maybe it's just that it is the place where we all originated, and it's depths are still unknown. My daughter once asked me, "When does the ocean stop waving?" Exactly! It never does, though it never ceases in changing either.

Incidentally, as I was painting this little vignette of our neighbor with her blue striped umbrella, I was photographed by Hidden Outer Banks!

Check them out. It was perhaps the one time when I actually didn't mind having a picture taken in my bathing suit. ;-)

Back from the beach

Last week my family made our annual trek to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It is a trip I look forward to all year, and it always seems to be over all too soon. For this trip, I brought along my water soluble oils.  Given all of the moving and excitement we had this spring and summer, I thought I would simplify things a bit with the painting gear I chose to bring with me, and eliminate the need for carrying turpentine. The only problem with my little plan was that, unlike my first foray into this medium, I found myself struggling. A lot. I don't know if it was the humidity, the painting surfaces, my overall fatigue or what. But every painting I did all week was a complete wiper, in spite of my  most valiant efforts.  The paint seemed to completely lack body and intensity. It also seemed to do nothing but smear all over my surfaces when I applied them.

Finally on the night before the last full day, it dawned on me that I should try a more absorbent surface. When I paint with traditional oils my preferred surface is one that is quite smooth --a fine weave linen or a shellacked birch panel. It was my understanding that shellac wasn't going to fly with water soluble oils, and my linen wasn't doing the job at all. So I dug around in my supply of panels and came up with a couple of gessoed birch panels and a Pintura gessoed canvas panel and decided to throw the old Hail Mary on the final day.

Here is the  first piece I did that last day, at sunrise:

"Sunrise at Nags Head" Water miscible oils on panel, 9x12" Contact me to purchase.

Finally I painted 3 pieces that I actually felt happy with! The paint was still harder to control than my beloved traditional oils, and I had a harder time mixing the colors I was aiming for, but at least the paintings actually looked like something I could show and/or use for reference when painting larger pieces. I will post the other paintings from that day in the coming days. Stay tuned!

Color isolator

My 5 year old and I have started playing a little color game called, "What color is that exactly?"  I'm trying to show her that colors are not always what they seem. The ocean may seem "blue", but which blue, exactly? And is it all blue? Or is it the same blue, from horizon to shoreline? One way to hone your color discerning skills is by using a color isolator. A color isolator is nothing high tech. It's basically a small hole that one can peer through to "isolate" a particular color from all others in a scene, in order to achieve better color accuracy.

There are little art tools sold to achieve this purpose, or you can peer through the small hole at the end of your palette knife. In a pinch you can concoct a small hole by peering through your curled up fingers. Last night at the restaurant my daughter and I were peering through straws. We even made a hole in a piece of my daughter's pita bread.

  This worked really well, actually, though by this time my husband started trying to disassociate himself from the crazy people peeking at things through their appetizers.

The point is, by isolating a tiny portion of an object you eliminate the information overload that can often happen when painting outdoors, and it is easier to see the color and value more accurately.

First painting since the move!

After re-reading my post from yesterday I started to feel like a wimp, complaining about the heat and all. Then I tried it and realized that heat stroke does not improve your art one iota! All kidding aside, it was boiling lava hot outside on my patio. I only lasted about an hour before I decided I'd have to leave it until the next day, and pick up where I left off. And so I painted this piece over two sessions, noting the time of day and returning to wrap up at the same time this morning.

"A Taste of Summer" Water soluble oils on Linen, 12x12" To purchase, contact me!

This little outdoor still-life setup includes the herbs and flowers I brought from my old place, as well as a big beautiful housewarming gift from our new neighbors (the pink and orange spray behind the basil). A  marriage of old and new,  I felt it was the perfect subject to kick off this new beginning.

I experimented with this painting using Cobra water-soluble oil paints by Royal Talens . I was inspired to try them when I started following the very talented painter Mark Hanson's discussions about them on Facebook and on his blog. I have friends who use water miscible oils, too, but having tried them before without success I haven't been compelled to try them again. But when Mark suggested that his migraine headaches may have gone away after switching to these oils, I took notice and decided to try this new (to me)  line of paints myself.

I have suffered from insomnia for years, and yet ever since we moved to the new house, I have only had two bad nights. That's pretty incredible! Coincidentally, with the exception of yesterday and today,  I have not painted since we've been here. Is it possible there is some other reason for my newfound improved sleep? Absolutely. But it's also possible the fumes were getting to me and I didn't even realize it. It has also bothered me for a while that I am eating as much organic and natural food as I can afford, I'm also inhaling volatile organic compounds on a daily basis in my work. And if we ultimately decide to set up my studio in our current attached garage, water soaked paper towels are  going to be a lot safer than ones soaked with mineral spirits, odorless or not!

I first tried water-soluble oils several years ago. I believe they were Winsor & Newton's Artisan series. At the time I found the handling too gummy and tacky and not to my liking at all. I may not have given them a fair shake though, because in recent weeks I have read that you really should not thin your paints with water or it will produce that tacky, gummy effect and make the paints rather dull and cloudy looking. Instead, Mark advised not to rinse off your brushes too much with water, but to just wipe off the brushes as much as possible in between color mixtures  instead, and save the water for the final cleanup. If needed, use a water miscible oil painting medium created specifically for these paints rather than water to increase viscosity.

That advice made a world of difference and I found myself painting without fighting with my materials. There was a slight difference in the handling and a few old habits to overcome, but nothing so difficult as to put me off. I would say they did not flow as easily for me as my traditional oils, and the color intensity was a tad weaker, but not by a tremendous amount. On the other hand, they have absolutely no odor and seem like they would be great for travel.

From what I have read so far, the drying time may be a bit longer than what I'm used to. But that should not be an issue for ole' Pokey, here. I do hope they dry well and evenly, without any dull passages or great shifts in color or value. I will report back on this if I notice anything remarkable. I look forward to experimenting more with these paints. I really hope these will be my new go-to paints, and that I can ditch the OMS once and for all!

Advice: Don't ever help an artist move

Given that this is an art blog, I kind of have a thing against posting without pictures. But since it has been a while since I have posted at all, I felt I should give an update and reaffirm my presence in the land of the living. We have moved!   I have spent the last few weeks clearing out, packing up, moving in, and then doing it all over again with the studio. There is so much stuff!! My advice to you, if  you happen to know an artist who is moving, is to steer clear of them and don't come back until the dust settles! Moving an artist is the worst. I am thoroughly over it, mentally, that is. In actuality, though I am still slogging through  boxes, (and boxes and boxes!) and trying to set up a household. I have my eye on the prize though, and  am looking to the future.

I have no studio yet, and I think I can safely presume that this will be the case until at least the fall. That is probably OK since I am still trying to find out where I packed the toaster. But it would be more OK if I could look forward to painting outdoors. But though summer has just begun, it is already so blazing hot outside right now that even the cats are panting in the shade by 10 AM. Hopefully there will be a break in the weather soon.

We have a larger property now,  mostly in full sun. When we bought this place we envisioned building a studio with similar features to the last one, but with ample northern natural  light and in the exact location we desired (which was not the case in the city).

We still may end up doing that, but at present we are actually considering converting the pre-existing garage rather than building an entirely new structure. It is already north-facing, with foundation, electricity, and plumbing intact.  (What's not to love?) It could save us a considerable sum, and If I put my office in the house (and who really needs a formal living room any way?) I would have my own little wing, with a larger studio workspace and an office connected by a short hallway, just through the back door.

So that's where we are right now; mulling it over and consulting contractors. We are looking into a good solution for a "wall of windows" as well as an entry door, some supplemental (artificial) lighting, and some built-ins for storage. If it works out as we imagine it to, it could come together much more quickly and less expensively than the last studio build. Here's hoping, any way!

At first I was resistant to the idea of not having a free- standing office/studio. It was what I was used to, and it served me well for several years. But I am coming around to the idea of having the studio connected to the house, so I can enter it at all hours if I want to, without having to don boots and a parka to do so. I am also liking more and more the idea of a separate office.  I can easily allow myself to be interrupt- driven, and it will be nice to have that extra layer of impulse-control built in.

I posted ad nauseum about my last studio build, and since this will be a different animal, I will try to do the same this time around.  I hope to be posting again soon, too--about painting! And with some pictures to boot! In the meantime, if any of you out there have built a studio from a pre-existing garage and would like to chime in with some advice, I am all ears.

Super cheap wet panel holder

This week as I am plodding through the daunting task of packing up my studio, I have storage on my mind (as in, where the heck am I going to put all of this stuff?!) Granted, a number of these boxes are my office supplies and files, but let's face it; artists have a lot of stuff.

And so we painters are always trying to come up with nifty and cheap storage ideas that will protect our paintings when they are wet and keep them organized when they are dry. With that introduction, meet my cd storage racks turned painting panel holders:

This is about as low tech as you can get. Two CD holders are tied together with twist-ties on either side.

These are also great to have in the car for plein air paitning trips. I put the whole setup inside of a box lid sized to hold them for added stability and reduced mess. It will hold painting panels up to 12" and keep them neatly separated from each other so that they don't touch.

Granted, CD holders are becoming a little harder to find as we move further into the digital age, but they are still around. If push comes to shove, a letter sorter from an office supply store will do.

Big change ahead

So this is a bit of a personal announcement, but since it's definitely going to affect my art making ability this spring and summer, it seems worth announcing. We're moving.  The new house is not too far from where we are, but it's out of the city and into the county, to a small college town of Ashland, VA. It's a very cute walkable town with a lot going on, (for a small town) only about 20 minutes from the City of Richmond. This is going to be different for me as I have lived all of my adult life in the city and pretty much have loved it. But it will be a good move, and the new digs will have more space for our family, a bigger yard, good schools, and the kiddo will actually have a place to ride a bike.

What it won't have is a studio, and leaving my current one is kind of breaking my heart. If you've read this blog for any length of time, you will recall my chronicles of building my current studio from the ground-up. I thought it would be my forever studio and I very much doubt we will be able to undertake that kind of elaborate project again any time soon. But the new house does have a garage that I think will be serviceable to convert. No doubt I will be consulting my own blog archives when fixing up the new site for a work space!

Any way, this is all happening pretty fast. What this means for this blog is that if there are some large gaps between posting, I will likely be packing 10 years worth of accumulated "stuff", fixing up the old house for the market, and fixing up the new house for living.  I will have my portable easel at the ready, so I still hope to do a little painting, and even some posting here and there too. Wish me luck!

Spring Break

Yesterday I woke up to sunshine and blue skies. I had a sitter lined up to watch my daughter so it looked like a plein air painting kind of day. I was stoked. Fast forward to 9 a.m.ish at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, and me freezing my tuccus off trying to paint in gale-force winds. My first plein air of the season did not go well. Not only was it looking pretty dark and muddied, but at one point it landed face down in the dirt. In all honesty, it wasn't even worth it to pick off the debris. In fact the mulch may have improved it a little bit! "Well," I thought, "there's always this afternoon". Except there wasn't. My sitter called to cancel which meant I needed to close up shop. I felt pretty dejected. I arrived at preschool ready to assume Mommy duty as per usual. But as luck would have it my daughter and her BFF had conspired to arrange a play date at said BFF's house.

What a lucky break! I'd been granted a 2 hour reprieve, and I was not going to waste it. After dropping my daughter at her friend's house, I peeled away, tires screeching (kidding) and headed for home to get my gear. As I was pulling up to park, these forsythia caught my eye:

"3 o'Clock Glow Oil on panel, 8x8" To purchase, please contact me!

Though the wind whipped up around me and  I was still pretty chilled, the forsythia were beginning to take on a warm glow as the sun prepared itself for its inevitable descent behind the rooftops.

Come on Spring!

Okay, enough of winter already. I don't know about you but my winter was totally nuts. Not that spring will be less nuts but at least they will be warm ;-). Family matters have kept me from doing much painting, but here and there I have worked on this 14x18" piece, revisiting a familiar theme and experimenting with brushwork and soft edges:

"Papaveri, Val d'Orcia" Oil on linen, 14x18" Click here for more info. To purchase, please contact me!

All is Quiet

Two more  days out of school this week due to snow, so I've had more wintry reference material at my disposal. I think after this much time indoors we are all going a little stir crazy, and things can be, well, crazy with an active preschooler,  from the time when my little angel wakes in the morning, until she lays her exhausted little head on the pillow once more at night. But since I am almost always the first person awake in the house in the mornings,  there are a few moments in the wee hours where I get to contemplate just how peaceful and beautiful the snow fall really is. There are no plows or tracks anywhere yet and the whole street is blanketed with pristine snow.

"All is Quiet" Oil on linen, 8x8" Contact me to purchase.

This is the view from our upstairs window, looking down our street and out over the rooftops. I've noted it a few times after it has snowed, and I always say to myself, "I really need to try painting that".  So I finally did. There was no brillian sunshine yet so the value range is not great, which made me enjoy the shapes and angles of the composition even more.

Let it snow

Here in Richmond, VA, we aren't used to getting around in the snow and ice. At the first hint of snow in the forecast, people storm the stores, and stock up on bread, milk, eggs, water,  booze, etc. (you know, all the staples) . In fact, many times the shelves are picked clean.  As for the schools, even a dusting seems to shut them down. In fact, I joke that the whole city shuts down if someone has dandruff. Last week we had about 6 inches, and school closed for the entire week. Granted, there were a few days of below freezing temperatures as well. Everything melted nicely away (finally!) and then this week we had another two days out from snow. Well, the snow might not bother Elsa, (or at least that's what I have heard many, MANY times during our little break) but as much as I love building snowmen, it sure puts a wrench in our routine after a while.

It is pretty though, I'll give it that.  So today I decided to embrace what is instead of wishing for what isn't. And here's the outcome of that shift in mindset. For this 16x20" canvas, I am referencing  photos I took right about sunset during our first round of snow as we were on our way for dinner out (because the roads were totally FINE).

I  apologize for not getting better blow by blow photos of the progress, but I  was on a roll. I almost made this a completely alla prima piece, which felt soooo great,  but (cut to the sound of a needle scraping across a record)  I ran out of time. I think I had a very good start though, so one more session before it sets up too much ought to do me.

New Lake Como painting in progress

School's out this week due to snow, so my painting time is catch as catch can. Nevertheless, we have been conspiring with other desperate parents to arrange play dates here and there, which allows a little painting and blogging time. So I thought I'd share the Bellagio painting I have my easel this week. This is a promenade on the outskirts of bella Bellagio, leading to the stunning grounds of the Villa Melzi.  This view however, looks back towards the town. Apologies in advance for the poor quality photos and the cast shadow of part of my easel on the painting. I don't have a lot of time to photo edit anything but the final these days, so I hope you will bear with me. I start in the usual fashion, with a loose sketch of my composition in Burnt Sienna:

Next I lay in the shadow family and darkest notes.

At this point I'm laying in some general blocks of color. Still no highlights yet...

And here's my starting point this morning:

Next I will continue blocking in, including the water and distant village. I'm still working up the nerve to paint outside while there's snow on the ground, but we will see. Not much of a fan of the cold, but that snow sure is pretty.

My studio featured on Houzz

A few weeks ago Houzz posted a discussion asking artists to share their hardworking studios. I participated in the forum with a few pics of my own studio space. A couple of weeks later an editor followed up with me directly and asked if I'd be interested in being included in another article. I was pretty flattered, and of course I said yes! If you are an artist looking for ideas for your own space, or even if you just enjoy looking at others' creative spaces, check out this article!

14 Home Studios That Nurture Creativity and Art

A new year, a new painting

Welcome to 2015! I will spare you the laundry list of lofty goals or resolutions, mainly because I don't have one! Seriously though, my one overarching goal for this year is to paint more often and more consistently. That shouldn't be too hard to obtain, right? I've had some obstacles lately but they are not insurmountable, and to prove it, here is a new studio piece I've been blocking in:

This composition might look familiar to you. And there's a reason for that! It's based on a little gouache study I did not too long ago, only scaled up considerably (from 4x5" to 20x24") and in oils. Much more to go on this, but it's a decent start, and the year is young.  ;-)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year (almost)! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and looks forward to a great 2015. I took a little time off over the holidays to be with my family. Now that my daughter is 4 1/2 years old, Christmas time is really so much fun and I wanted to enjoy and cherish every minute of it. Even so, I did manage to "sneak in" one more painting before ringing in a brand new year.

"Mist in the Valley" Oil on Canvas, 12x16" Click here for more info, or  contact me to purchase!

This painting is based on a combination of photos and a plein air study I did while I was in the Lot Valley a few years ago. If you have been reading my blog a while, you may recall that I tackled similar subject matter before, and will likely explore compositional variations again. I have a lot of reference photos from that morning and it was probably one of the most memorable plein air sessions from the trip. It's also both fun and challenging painting such a close range of values and all of those soft edges.

P.S. Did you know 2015 is the year of the sheep in the Chinese astrology? I'm not really superstitious or into astrology and didn't realize it when I started working on this piece. But it's pretty coincidental, don't you think?

French landscape; new and in progress!

It feels like it has been ages since I posted a new work in progress. That is probably because it has been! This kitchen renovation really sidelined me more than I imagined. The new kitchen was in the studio and the old was completely gutted. For weeks. We live in a small house and there was no room at all to store the new stuff, so for a while we could barely walk around without tripping into something or shimmying by someone fast enough to avoid being stapled or drilled. Add to that mix  a couple of family illnesses and a trip or two, and here we are in December already.

The kitchen still isn't done but at least my studio has been freed from floor-to-ceiling cabinetry, boxes, and debris (not to mention a table saw or two). So today I actually started something new. It feels good! This is a 20x16" and a fairly simple composition. But I wanted to keep it alla prima and fresh and airy, and for my first time back at the easel I wasn't looking to plunge into a large complicated piece. It's not done yet, but I think will be very  soon. When it is I will post it here, of course, and with a much better quality photo.