Twice the Fun

"Above the Tree Tops" 5" x 7"

"Close to Heaven" 5" x 7"

Here are a couple more paintings from my recent trip to Colorado. These are much smaller than most of my paintings. I tried this smaller size out for two reasons. First, I knew I would be painting fast so I wouldn't be forcing my family to sit around while I worked. Second, because of the ease of finding a frame.

Colorado plein air was a fun challenge. I have experience painting outdoors with fast moving shadows changing my view, but I found out in Colorado entire mountains change value and color temperature within moments. Clouds pass overhead and cover very large areas. It was hard not to chase the ever changing views, but "wow" was the beauty worth the attempt.

These small paintings and the thousand or so photos I took will keep me inspired for some time.

My Colorado Vacation

"Overlooking Ouray" 9 x 12

Wow, is all I can say about my vacation in Ouray, Colorado. My family and I had a great time. I took hundreds of pictures and soaked in so much beauty. I plan on pouring over the photos and turn many of them into paintings. I know it will be a challenge to capture the large scale & beauty of the mountains. That is something I know I wouldn't have had any chance of doing if I hadn't been there and took them myself.

The above painting was done roadside, looking down on the town of Ouray. The weather was a wonderful 72 degrees. I heard Texas was around 104 at the same time, so I wasn't missing it very much right then. I would like to say that I had people from all over the world pulling over just to watch me work, but I'm sure at least a few of them only stopped to take in the view.
I will post more of my plein air attempts and share some of my photos in the following days.

95% Plein Air Painter

"Sonjia's Red Bowl" 8 x 10

This is my first post in a while. A family problem and the Texas hot weather combined to keep my recent painting outings sparse. I am presently about a 95% plein air painter. Very few of my attempts come from studio or indoor work. That is something I know I have to change about myself. I have become comfortable painting outside and now I need to learn to be comfortable inside which is probably the exact opposite from most painters. I decided a few nights ago to set up a still life and get some painting in. The funny thing about the way I work is I paint inside the exact way I paint outside. I have done work as large as 2’ x 3’ but still finished in about three hours time. I need to learn to slow down and not sling the paint. I don't like painting on dry work.

Next week I am going to Ouray, Colorado for a combined family vacation and paint out event with the OPS. I have never painted in the mountains before so I am very excited!
I promise to post many photos and hopefully many paintings.

Two new Challenges

Here are a couple images from recent outings. The first one is a little 6 x 8 painting of some trees. I tried something different with this one. Instead of my usual wash in, I started by painting the whole background very dark and building up to the light. I lifted my main trees out of the background with a little turp and a stiff brush. It actually took form very fast, coming in at about thirty minutes and it definitely gave the final piece a different feel.

The second painting is a restored 1880's farm house. This painting gave me a challenge in that the home is a very unusual chalky green color. This house is owned by the city of Grapevine and they took donations to help restore this home and the surrounding property. I heard everyone was kind of down when they found out what color this had to be to restore it back to it's original form. Not sure if I actually pulled it off.

Waxahachie Paint Out Merit Award

Here are the four Plein air paintings I had on display & sale in the Paint Historic Waxahachie, Tx. 4th Annual Paint Out. This was a ten-day event with over 50 artists participating. The event judge was Bruce Peil. I'm happy to report that I received one of the seven awards given out and was very proud to be mentioned along side other winners like Ted Clemens, Tina Bohlman, Ann Hardy, Chase Almond & Olivette Hubler.

This was no easy task considering the 250+ paintings entered into judging. I was lucky enough to receive a similar award at last years event.

I will post better photos of my entries as soon as possible.

This was one of my entries. I wanted to attempt more flowers in hopes that I could expand my audience. As you can see in my photo I was set up a little further away than I would have preferred. The home owner wasn't home so I didn't venture closer than the sidewalk. This may have worked to my advantage by forcing me to not over detail my painting. It's hard to over detail something you can't see.

"In Bloom" 9"x 12"

My view

( My apologies for the low resolution camera phone pictures. I was not able to pick up my paintings after the show. I wish I didn't have anything left to pick up. )

Train Depot 9 x 12

Here is another of my paintings from the OPS Grapevine paint out. This was my early morning effort. I thought I had something good going on, but I found myself a little distracted surrounded by all my friends and fellow artists. After visiting a while I realized not only had the light changed, but so did my view. I think every car in Grapevine was suddenly parked in front of me! I had been looking forward to painting the little green cart at the base of the train, but it was no longer in site so I finished it up from memory. This painting still brings me a smile because it reminds me of that very fun day.

I'll have to revisit this spot again and give it another try.

The Pink Anteater 8x10

This past weekend was a blast. I was hosting my painting group in my home town of Grapevine, Tx. We had a real good attendance that included several new members and several signature members showing up to get their paint on. I was a little nervous and prayed the outing would go fine. We had a forty percent chance of rain in the forecast, but we made it through the day with only one ten minute downpour that didn't stop anyone. Several really nice paintings where done and even with all the talking and direction giving I managed to paint three paintings. I'll show some pictures of the outing in some upcoming posts.

The "Pink Anteater" is a painting of some vintage farming equipment on a farm only one block from my house. My family drives by it all the time and my boys always remark how much the old bailing machine looks like an some kind of strange animal, compete with green eyes and weird smile. I've wanted to paint this scene for some time. I was in luck that day because a red tractor was left right next to the bailer. In my eyes painting both of these together not only tells the viewer what this machine is used for but also just how large it is. This was very fun to paint and my boys got a kick out of it too.

Dinner with Friends

I recently went to dinner with several of my Outdoor Painters Society buddies. If they sat us together by talent, I wouldn't have been at this table. From left to right is Dave Bates, Me (with the big stupid grin), Andrew Wages, John Cook and Kaye Franklin. If you are not familiar with any of these people, do yourself a favor and check out their work! So much talent.

Rusted Tin Roof 11 x 14

I'm not totally happy with the way this painting turned out even though I do like parts of it. I think some of my feelings are based on what I edited out because of time restraints and maybe poor layout. I ended up removing a tree from the right side and a tractor plow from the left foreground. While I was laying it out it never seemed to come together. I should have know from the start if the layout doesn’t feel right to correct it then, but I was in a hurry for the fun part. This painting also made me doubt not using canvas on my board. The texture is nice, but it seems to become dry looking reel fast. I don’t add a lot of medium to my paint. With this one I only added some Alkyd to speed up drying time. Maybe I should try something else before I totally give up on my gesso only wood boards. Also, I have a few scratches along the fence from my carrier that I haven't cleaned up yet.

Any opinions about the painting or texture?

Rainy Day Painting

"The Hill Country" 11" x 14"

As soon as it stopped raining on our drive home, Andrew Wages & I looked at each other and knew it was another chance to paint. We turned off onto a dirt road and found this interesting hill. I had to park my van at our backs to shield us from the high winds. It was challenging conditions, but so much fun! I wish I had taken a picture of Andrew's painting, but the wind wouldn't allow me to leave my setup.

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A look at my palette and painting in progress

This photo doesn't show the clouds that filled the sky

More Plein Air Lessons Learned

My friend Andrew Wages creates another master piece.

"Goat Farm" 9" x 12"

A farm we discovered on a back road. It was covered in goats.

We were lost at this time & I doubt I could ever find

this location again.

Photo from site

I had a great time visiting the Texas Hill country. I was lucky enough to paint with over thirty members of the Outdoor Painters Society and make many new friends. I partnered up with Andrew Wages who has been painting for over forty years. Andrew has seen it and done it all. We had a great time.
Andrew is no nonsense lets get painting type of guy that can paint from sun up to sundown. We woke up early and packed lunches. If you have painted in Texas you won't be shocked to hear that we painted in 90+ degree heat one moment and cold high winds and rain the next. A local farmer found us on a dirt road and asked if were "working hard", I think he was joking, but honestly we were! I won’t be the first person to say Plein Air painting is hard work!
I returned from my trip in time to paint in a local wildflower festival. Good news is I sold both paintings I created. Bad news is they had two silent auction times going and I turned my paintings in five minutes before the first auction time. They quickly sold for the minimum bids, because nobody had time to see them. I should have turned them in after the first auction.

Lesson learned.

I did have a lot of fun and even let some fifteen or so kids actually help me paint on my paintings. The kids were all excited and easy to coach and I saw a lot of surprise on their parents faces. I figured I could repair anything that didn't look quite right. Everything was going fine until a woman who told me she was also an oil painter walked up. I told her I needed a break and wanted her to paint something for me. She picked up the brush I was using to paint grass with and stuck it into a combination of Prussion blue and Viridian Green and proceeded to paint in my sky for me. Ouch! Neither color was being used in this particular painting. After cleaning up that mess I now know I can clean up anything.

Lesson learned.

Lazy Tree 9 x 12

This painting is from my secret location. It appears to be this grand forest and in reality it is a patch of land between some buildings and an apartment complex. I have never seen anyone else within my secret forest and I plan on keeping this area to myself.

This week brings some excitement for me as I get to leave town for three days with fellow Outdoor Painters Society members on a painting trip to the Texas hill country. We will be in the Fredericksburg area as part of the Plein Air Southwest 2009 event. We are expecting a great turnout. Also this weekend I will be participating in the 4th Annual Fort Worth Prairie Fest. I will be painting all day with my work and several other artists work being sold during a silent auction.
Because of my day job, this will be the first time ever that I will be able to paint for four days in a row sun up to sun down. Just imagine the possibilities. Of course, I will share everything when I get back.

If you are in Fort Worth area please come out and say “Hi”.

http://www.tandyhills.org/prairiefest.htm