Plein Air Southwest Salon

“Day of Rest”

SOURCETEK AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

and

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

My painting "A Day of Rest" received an Award of Excellence at the Plein Air Southwest Salon show yesterday from judge John Budicin. Later that night I was blown away by also winning the "Peoples Choice" award. I am truly blessed to have so much support. Just to hang on the same wall as these artists was honor enough for me, but to call them FRIENDS.....I'm humbled.

I also won an "Honorable Mention" award in the Outdoor Painters Society's Associates members show for my painting "Just Sitting"

"Just Sitting"

Six years ago, my wife told me about a painting group holding a quick draw event that Saturday. I was not an oil painter and I had no idea what a quick draw was. I went to it and was amazed at what I saw. I didn't know you could do an oil painting in under two hours, especially paintings of that quality, but what amazed me the most was how welcoming, friendly and quick to share this group of people were. That night I went to the 1st Plein Air Southwest Salon show and I WAS HOOKED! I'm proud to be a member but most proud of my friendships inside the group.

Southwest Gallery opening night

John Budicin & myself at the artist dinner

Quick Draw painting at White Rock Lake in progress

Is it just me or do paintings look better with big ribbons?

My wife loves and supports me and makes my life fun.

View all of the winning paintings here

http://www.paswsalon.com/pasw/2012_Winners.html

Come into the light children...

"Green, Green Grass..."

10 x 20 Oil

I tried a more ambitious painting at least size wise. I thought the subject matter would allow me to paint larger than normal and it did. Unfortunately I chose a very windy day and a back lit subject to do this. When, it came time to lay in the grass, I did everything I could to try and duplicate to glowing color I was seeing and I think I accomplished this. You can see in the photo of me working that the color really looked like that! This is one of the reasons that plein air painting is worth the effort. If I had painted this from a photo  back home in the studio, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to make the grass and light glow like this because I wouldn't have seen it the same way.

 

Photo of subject, but from a slightly different angle.

Looking into the light for a long time can make mixing colors difficult.

Detail of brushwork,

The orange glow is the tinted board showing through.

Sometimes letting the board show is the best way to keep a glow.

Truck Black & White

"Vintage Memories"

10 x 20 Oil

I found this great image from the 1930's that I fell in love with. I kept looking at it and it left me wondering what the man was thinking. What was going on? Who was waiting inside the cab for him? The car has so much personality too. I started out thinking I was going to colorize the black & white image, but I quickly changed gears and did it all in shades of grey and Chromatic Black. I even pulled out the palette knife for some finishing details, heavily applying the whitish highlights and the mans shirt. I added a touch of yellow to help warm up the white tint and emphasize the glow.

I may do a series of vintage images all in monochromatic tints. What do you guys think?

Step By Step Plein Air Tractor

Plein Air 12 x 16

 I will post a better photo after it's dry.

My block in on a pre-tinted canvas. I was using a 3/4" brush and linked all my shadows to solidify the mass. My darks are not all one shade. They shift from cool and warms and I added some Sap green into the mixture in the grass shadows.

My Subject - Interesting to compare photo with final painting and see where drawing errors happened. Much harder to see when your in the heat of the battle.  

I jumped into the details of the tractor because I liked what the light was doing at that moment and it was the fun part to paint. Tried real hard to leave as much of the beginning darks alone to keep my depth.

I used this long haired brush from Ace Hardware for laying in my grass. It puts down a lot of paint and the bristles make long sweeping texture. Not bad for a .99 cent brush. I typically put the most texture in the foreground and spots I want to highlight. You can see the brush I used at the bottom of the painting.

  

You can see the size of the painting in this shot if you can look past my my handsome profile.

 

Working some fence details and adding in the roof. I want the fence to have depth, but I don't get carried away with any one part. Also, I try and keep the darks in the fence connected to the darks in the tractor since they are on the same plane. I paint in my sky last after laying in more trees. After the sky is in, I work the tree branches back on top of the sky. I try to not bring much attention to this area. When I was close to finishing I changed the angle of the house roof on the right side to point back towards my tractor since it is my main subject. ( see final picture )

Simple Things Nocturne

"Simple Things"

9 x 12

  I painted this nocturne before Christmas and forgot to post . I was on vacation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas with my family and managed to sneak off the do some painting. This is one of my wife's favorite shops, so I knew she would like me to paint it. Boy it got dark fast and I quickly discovered I can't see in the dark. I finished the whole sky and several other areas just trusting my knowledge of my palette. Needless to say I just had to stop and didn't get a chance to tighten it up. Still it was fun and I plan on trying some more nocturnes.



Old Truck and Sign

"Harvest Classic"

9 x 12

I found this truck right outside of Fredericksburg, Tx. and fell in love. There was a motorcycle event going on in a nearby field and hundreds of bikers flooded the streets. Looked like fun and it could have made for some interesting paintings, but I felt a little safer close to the road. ;?)

Happy New Year! I'm hopeful that 2012 will be a great year for my paintings. I have my eye on a few shows and also on finding some full time gallery representation. I have put this off, but feel like I'm ready.

Reason #214: Why plein air painting is tough.

"Depot"

9 x 12

Painted this late in the day and was surrounded by photographers taking family photos. Grapevine is a very photographic town and I'm lucky to live here, but nothing is as annoying as listening to a photographer shout baby talk to get the little ones attention...over and over and over. I tried to immerse myself in my work, but it was tough.

Christmas Painting Exchange

"All the Live-Long Day"

8 x 10

This is the painting I selected for the Outdoor Painters Society Christmas gift exchange. We wrap our paintings in brown paper, pile them up and play a white elephant Christmas game. It gets pretty heated, because you can steal paintings from other people and everyone gets pretty attached real fast. This will be my fifth party and I have really enjoyed the paintings I received in the past. I got an Ann Hardy, a couple from Cecy Turner and a David Moreland Bates. All are signature members of our group...not too shabby.

I hope I don't disappoint someone that gets this one.

Patriotic Tractor

"Patriotic Tractor"

12" x 16"

I tried this one larger than my usual 9 x 12 size. The increased size made it more difficult to finish in my normal time frame and also made the drawing tougher, because it's hard to hide any drawing errors. Some things worked and some didn't, but it's always fun.

I don't need any extra reasons to paint a tractor, but I loved the little flag on the front.

Livery Stable

"The Livery Stable"

8" x 16" oil

This is a plein air painting from my recent trip to Winberley, TX with the Outdoor Painters Society. This was my view from my hotel room, no lie! We meet some colorful characters that worked in the area too. A great local old timer that told me some tall tales while he repeatedly broke wind...all without missing a beat. ;?)

I painted several paintings around the river that didn't quite work out. Not my cup of tea, but I'm trying. I'm much more comfortable painting architecture and form.

My painting buddy, Rick Eakins and I made our way to the grand opening of the new RS Hanna Gallery in Fredericksburg. I was blown away by the gallery, the owners and especially the gallery artists which includes my good friend Rusty Jones. He was grinning ear to ear and had some of the best work there. That's saying a lot considering some of my personal favorite artist, Frank Gardner, Hodges Soileau and Marc Hanson ( see my fav. blogs at right ) all hang in the same gallery. I missed out on opportunity to paint with some of these guys too. I had to return home and they were all going out together the next day. 

I probably would have slowed them all down and drooled on their paintings anyway. I won't miss another opportunity...I promise!

Sorry 2 My Family

"Parade Tractor"

9 x 12  © 2011

I found this tractor, immediately took my family home, squeezed out a call to a painting buddy and went to work. ( Sorry 2 my family )

I laid the darks in very dry and applied the paint with thick deliberate strokes. I approached it a little looser and personally like the results. I'm real curious what you guys think.

We Have a Winner!

Thank you to everyone that posted to my Blog in support of my 100th post. I am happy to say "Doug Clark's" name was drawn as the winner of my painting giveaway. I am also happy to say I know Doug in the real world, not just the cyber world and have painted beside him several times. Doug is also a great sculptor. and I encourage you to check out his Blog. I am proud to be in his collection.

Thanks Doug and everyone else for all the support and kind words.

Photo by Jim Rodgers