Adventures in plein air painting

June 26, 2009

   Adventures in Plein Air Painting Continued: Immediately after my Zapata Ranch plein air painting retreat, I returned to the studio to complete the two half-finished paintings started on the ranch. To my amazement, it felt like I was still plein air painting!  I even attempted to set up outside on my patio, but the heat and intense sun drove me back inside (along with some wild weather). A weird sensation for sure, but not unreasonable, as I was attempting to continue the plein air vernacular while finishing these two half-done paintings. 

   I did have photos, of course, of these barns, but they just didn’t tell the color story correctly and they seemed stilted. So I relied on my memory, taking guidance from the values and colors already placed in the painting. The photos were helpful for the architecture of the outbuildings and fence, but that’s about it. 

 

On the Easel Morning Barns – unfinished 12 x 16 plein air oil

  Remember this red building? Well, here it is completed:

 

Morning Barns 12 x 16 Oil (plein air finished in studio)

  This next one never got into the last blog though it was in my Email Newsletter. I painted this on the last morning. On location, I set up and began in earnest, but the light was changing so fast and my brain was thinking of the drive home and maybe even writing grocery lists too, so I packed it in and headed out. The view of the ranch in my rear view mirror nearly caused me to turn around, but soon I was driving though heavy thundershowers and I knew I had made the right decision.

On the Easel Morning Light 11 x 14 Unfinished Plein air oil

 

Departing Shot 11 x 14 Oil (Plein air finished in the studio)

  As you can see, more of this painting has been changed. As I was plein air painting, I kept thinking that I had too much dark green value in the background hills. This would create a problem with the darks in the near trees. Of course, when I started, the background hills were in deep shade, highlighted only on the peaks and that flat green surface reflecting the brightening sky. I had no photos of that early light, only one as I was departing, so I needed to choose some direction before I began. That was a hard decision to make and I am not sure if I made the right choice after all. I did paint the grasses and shrubs from memory though, as their bright warmth was what caught my attention in the first place. My photo said nothing about these colors and values, to my surprise. What is real? What is the truth?

   This conundrum will always exist for those of us who paint both in the studio and plein air. I believe that each individual sees color, light, value etc differently, so how in the world can we expect the camera to capture our individual color perspective? And how can we expect each camera to capture these elements the same way? And how can we expect every person to see and understand our personal concept of color and value?

   Perhaps these subtle differences in our individual interpretation of color and value create symbiosis between an artist’s painting and a collector or admirer with similar interpretation. Our concept of color and value may even shift from outdoors to indoors as our eyes adjust to the amount of light received or even as subtly as one day to another. I can sometimes look at a painting I did a week or so ago and wonder why I chose to paint with those colors – I would choose something different now to represent the same thing. Is there a right and a wrong interpretation? Or do exercises, including color charts and maybe plein air painting actually make our observance of color and value more acute and therefore correct? 

  Are artists really trying to accurately capture what Mother Nature ‘said’ in that landscape? After all artists frequently take the liberty of moving mountains, trees, buildings and anything else we please to make a better composition. We also change color and value to add excitement and three-dimensionality to our paintings. 

  Maybe what we should search for is our individual truth. We observe on site or observe photographs, but our reading of that information is ours alone. Understanding our individual reading is where we will find the truth. And       Viva la difference!

   This was pretty esoteric stuff, but that information just may help us examine artwork more openly as we try to interpret each artist’s reading of color, light and value. 

   Don’t forget to sign up for my Email Newsletter which comes out monthly, or so.

   Thanks for your support and interest. Remember, you can make comments, ask questions and even suggest topics for me to discuss in future blogs. Don’t forget to tell your friends who might be interested in my blog and web site. 

   Au revoir!

   Ginger

Adventures in plein air painting

June 11, 2009

WOW! I had an awesome time on the Zapata Ranch in S. Central Colorado! I owe a huge thanks to the Nature Conservancy for protecting the amazing Zapata Ranch and to Duke and Janet Phillips for creating a yearly venue for artists at the ranch, for their land husbandry, their educated and practical understanding and ethics in dealing with cattle and the free roaming bison that graze there. I didn't say that very well, but they know what I mean. The Phillips are a wonderful family and I love you all.

I’ve been home a week now, but found I needed some down-time before I got back into the swing of blogging, writing newsletters, photographing paintings, painting in the studio, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, grocery shopping…. you know, the every day necessities of home life for an artist. Actually, we were spoiled rotten at the Zapata. We arose early to paint before breakfast, then we were free all day to explore an awesome landscape seeking the perfect location to set up and paint. Dinner was prepared and waiting before spectacular sunsets pulled us outside once again and our evenings were filled with laughter and great conversation with other artists. Yes, I am refreshed, renewed and relaxed. 

 

Morning Light 9 x 12 plein air oil

I love to plein air painting, but I’m sort of a fair weather outdoor painter, so it had been since fall that I last set up on location to capture, as best and rapidly I could, the scene before me. Everyone else seemed so accustomed to plein air painting, I thought I just might be embarrassed in the evening when we shared our day’s work with the group. But, we were all in the same boat. Plein air paintings are really sketches or should I say color value studies. Some come out like masterpieces (very rare), some are pretty good and others will be discarded very soon. Practice make perfect and by the end of the retreat, everyone had done some pretty amazing work.

Zapata Ranch Barns 6 x 12 plein air oil

Meandering Stream with Iris  9 x 12 plein air oil

 

Zapata Stream 8 x 10 plein air oil

The top painting I did in overcast mid-morning light. The second one I did after lunch on a clear day just before thundershowers hit. Can you see the difference? My set-up position was slightly different - one on the high bank, the other down nearly under the bridge. I also never added in the iris in the foreground in the second. This canvas also took a nice wind fall into a perfect buffalo chip!

 

Early morning and late afternoon sun moves so fast, capturing a view is hard work and one has to work rapidly. First I would place the darkest darks which, of course, set up my composition. Then I would begin to place the large shapes in their proper color value. By now the light has changed so I must use my memory to place other details or shapes, all the while concentrating on just what it was that intrigued me about the light on the landscape in the first place.

Morning Barns – unfinished 11 x 14 plein air oil

Some days, the thunderheads came on quickly and I ran for cover before finishing a painting. Guess I’ll have to finish this from photos and call it a studio piece instead.

For the rest of the day, the light changes subtly over a couple of hours and one has more time to capture the scene…..but the light is flatter and the shadows aren’t very interesting or long. Every afternoon at Zapata huge thunder showers developed and I had to scurry back to my car for shelter. As the clouds were building though, color values would shift and interesting combinations of sunlight and shade would appear. 

 

Ranch View 9 x 12 plein air oil

If you remember other blogs where I show the progress of a painting in the studio, you will notice that I frequently begin paintings using my plein air approach. Most of the plein air work only goes so far and I don’t ever return to ‘finish’ it. Studio paintings can carry on and on until I feel I have finished the work to my satisfaction (actually I am never really satisfied, but I need to move on so I call the painting ‘finished’ at some point). You will probably notice that the plein air paintings look like the color value studies I frequently do underneath studio work.

You just might have questions about plein air painting so go ahead and ask. Plein air presents great opportunities for an artist to challenge their understanding of color value. I’ve a lot to learn and enjoy every minute of the plein air experience.

If you have read this far you must really be interested. But I won’t bore you much longer. I am just going to add a few comments about some pretty wonderful artists at the retreat this year. 

We had an amazing group of artists attending and the mixed humor kept me in stitches most of the time. Mosquitoes and No-see-ums were everywhere (including on our paintings) and to avoid this torture, many of us had various defensive tactics in process as we painted. Pattie and Teresa had yards of white netting wrapped around their heads and shoulders – obviously looking like a wedding party of numerous brides…others including yours truly, had dryer sheets tucked into every conceivable place on their clothing.  Pattie had them stuffed in her arm pits and I think this may also have kept the body odor down. I did admire that concept and may try that next time. My personal preference was dryer sheets under my hat which was really only a brim. This seemed to keep the little buggers off the top of my head, but garnered many comments about my having a nappie on my head – perhaps a new fashion statement. I warned all those who commented on my attire that I was in-the-know about fashion and they were obviously behind the times. I also let them know that I too had ‘family’ so messing with me could be a bit of a problem. But I think next year I need to find black dryer sheets so that I more obviously present an artists’ fashion statement. My age didn’t seem to get me no respect from these youngsters!

Evenings created additional avenues of individuality. David played pool by himself and sadly lost $5. Teresa acted out many bizarre adventures keeping us awed by her ability to tell tall tales – or were they really tall tales? A few beers, or scotches, or glasses of wine finally took its toll on each of us and we lumbered off to bed. 

Enough, already!

This month’s Newsletter has more information about plein air painting at the Zapata so remember to sign up. If you want a copy of this months Newsletter, just request it and I will send it on immediately.

Thanks for your support and interest. Remember, you can make comments, ask questions and even suggest topics for me to discuss in future blogs. Don’t forget to tell your friends who might be interested in my blog and web site. 

Happy trails to you, until we meet again!

Ginger