Painting in the mountains- day two

The following morning is bright and beautiful. I decided to start out after breakfast by painting a little vignette right on the grounds where I was staying. I noticed a little whitewashed garden shed, (which I am told used to be a chicken coop) because it had some nice light and cast shadows from a neighboring tree. The light is soft and dewy and so this is the feeling I'd be going for. One thing I've learned from trial and error is to try and think in big shapes first. It is a good idea to lay in your darkest darks and lightest lights first, to help key the rest of the painting. With this subject and the small size of my canvas, that is a relatively easy task. Here is my little canvas, measuring 10"x8".

*Tip: I pretty much never use white paint directly out of the tube. It is too stark and too cool, even if the local color actually is white. The temperature of the light and the reflected light from other elements in the picture will effect the local color. Here I mix a tiny, tiny dab of cad. yellow and cad. red in with the white ( a little goes a long way) to warm it up a bit. 

*Tip: There were other buildings behind this little "chicken coop" that I could see in the background, but the only thing that really interested me was the clothesline, so that's all I included. I don't put in everything I see, just because it's there! My highest priority is to make an interesting painting, and the other buildings in the distance on such a small canvas would have just distracted from my center of interest.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air

Painting in the mountains- first evening

I got spring fever last week, and while I think the area where I live in Richmond is beautiful, I go the hankering for some wide open spaces and mountainous vistas. I took a chance that the break in the weather would hold by planning a little trip to the mountains for a few nights. The cabin where I stayed is located near Charlottesville, VA, so it is only a little over an hour from my home. I arrive in the afternoon to find the cabin situated in the countryside with redbuds, dogwoods, azaleas, wisteria, and lilac still blooming. Needless to say, it is a beautiful area! The property sits among rolling hills, and is bordered by a pasture full of grazing cattle. Upon my arrival at the cabin, I see one of the proprietors busy mowing the grass. Judging by the size of the property, this appears to be at least a half-day affair, so I decide to take the car and explore the area a bit more.

Hooray! I have found a great spot to paint! It is a nearby park with a beautiful apple orchard next to it. There are still blossoms on the trees, and I'm excited because I can set up directly across from the orchard on park property. By this time it is about 4:30 p.m. and my thought is that there should still be plenty of light for a couple of hours, so I took out a 12x16" panel and set to work. I guess I was a bit too ambitious for the first go. 12x16" is admittedly a small painting if you are working under consistent lighting conditions. But it suddenly seemed huge to me, especially in the rapidly changing light.

The light changed sooo fast. I have been used to the morning light, which also, in fact, changes pretty quickly, but this was super quick because the sun was steadily going down behind the mountains even before sunset. I barely got my canvas covered before the dramatic light and shadows on the mountains went completely flat and dull. I did take photos, and thought, well, I can finish it in the studio or perhaps on the field on the following day. Here is a picture of the painting in its incomplete form:

*Tip: I highly recommend sticking to a smaller canvas to start (no larger than 11x14) if you are just getting started painting en plein air, or if you are painting in rapidly changing light conditions. Pochades are excellent sizes to capture scenes quickly and loosely. The aim for me is to capture the light conditions of that particular moment in time, as a scene can look very different at different times of day and under different weather conditions. 

You can always work on a larger painting in the studio using your plein air reference if you want to make it bigger later. Of course if you really feel like you want to do a big painting, have at it, especially if you know you can return again and again at the same time of day until you complete it. As it is for me when traveling, I usually get just one shot to get it down. It is far better to have small victories that accurately capture the light, than larger canvases that are incomplete and leave me wanting.

I will post some additional pictures from my plein air painting mountain trip in future entries, so stay tuned!

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air

Painting in the mountains for a few days

I'm heading out for a few days to do some plein air painting in the mountains. The weather is looking promising so I thought I'd go for it while the dogwoods are still going strong. I'll be staying in a cabin with only dial up internet access in the proprietor's main house. So needless to say I doubt I'll be blogging while I'm gone. Will bring the laptop though and continue to journal in the evenings so that I can post entries when I return. Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact  

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air

Two more reasons to go to DC

The other day I mentioned a Cezanne exhibit nearing its close at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. Now, here are two more wonderful exhibits that appear to overlap this show: Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris, 1870–1910. This show focuses on the creative dialogue between the French and British artist and their contemporaries during the turn of the century. According to the Phillips Collection website the show arrived "directly from Tate Britain in London, the exhibition includes over 100 works—many never before on public view." The show closes on May 18th, 2006.

The Renoir Returns: A Celebration of Masterworks at The Phillips Collection April 15–July 30, 2006. "The Renoir" they are referring to is one of my all-time favorite Renoirs, "The Luncheon of the Boating Party". In celebration of its return from an extended loan, the Phillps is putting on a special exhibition from its collection that features this painting but also includes Bonnard, Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Gogh, Kandinsky, Matisse, Monet, Picasso and others.

I wonder if I can see them all in one road trip? Or is that overkill? My head just might explode or something.

Oh, and upcoming shows at the Phillips seem equally enthralling to me, including one on Paul Klee this year, the Society Anonyme in '07, and Impressionists by the Sea in '08. (Woo-hoo!)

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Pochade box

Clouds and rain have been rolling in, so no plein air these last couple of mornings. I have plenty to do in my studio as I'm getting some new work together for a show, so it works out fine. In the meantime I thought I'd focus this morning's post on my one of my plein air setups. There are TON of options out there for plein air painters--everything from pochade boxes to classic French easels and beyond. Early on I had a full size French easel, but I found it to be too heavy for me, and I hated all of the wingnuts. Inevitably one would end up falling off during transport and without that wingnut to secure the easel leg, you're pretty much out of luck. If I ever did get another French easel, I would probably go for something like the Julian half box which is much lighter weight and not so cumbersome, in my opinion.

I currently work with two plein air setups for oils. One of them, my pochade box, I use quite often. Here is a picture of my pochade box:

I hang a roll of paper towels from a bungee cord on the front handle, and a grocery bag also to hold my spent paper towels. My paints, thinner, and medium store below the sliding palette, and my canvas stores in the lid.

A pochade is a French term meaning "quick sketch" and refers to the color studies that artists would create in the open air often for later reference in the studio. Original pochades were popular with 18th and 19th century landscape painters. They were small "cigar boxes" with hinged lids. Like my pochade box pictured above, the lid served as an area to hold the canvas or panel, and the bottom part of the box was used to store paints and a palette. It was a very simple affair and small enough to hold in your hand, sometimes with the use of a little thumb hole cut into the bottom of the box.

Currently pochade boxes range in sizes from 6x8" to 12x16". Prices for pochade boxes range widely, but if you are handy it is possible to make your own, as the design is really very simple. As for me, I am NOT handy like that!

I bought this little 9x12" pochade box online and I like it quite a lot. It weighs about 5 1/2 pounds, and with optional accessories can hold canvas panels from 6x8" on up to about 16x20". It has a tripod mounting plate on the bottom side to mount onto a camera tripod. My brand is a Bogen Jr. Manfrotto tripod, which is lightweight but sturdy.

I am constantly trying to find ways to compact and lighten my setup, but right now I carry all of my supplies in a large tote bag that I purchased from LL Bean (shown just behind my tripod). It works okay for short distances and for flat areas where you can just strap it onto a rolling luggage cart, but if I'm hiking in the mountains, probably not. In that case, I'd probably benefit from paring things down a bit.

Tags: art painting landscape painting artist plein air

Cezanne exhibit at the National Gallery, D.C.

Many have likely already known about the fabulous exhibit running through May 7th featuring the masterful paintings of Paul Cezanne. The show is entitled "Cezanne in Provence", and will focus on his paintings reflecting the love of the landscape surrounding his birthplace. I've known about this show for a while but exhibits like this never seem to emerge to the surface of my awareness until they are almost over.

I saw a fabulous Cezanne exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art some years back, and while it did have a number of landscapes, there were a lot of still life and figurative paintings in that show. I am very excited about this most recent exhibit because the focus seems to be on the landscape and local people surrounding the village of Aix. I did not get into Aix on my visits to Provence (though I do hope to do so at some point!) but I have been all around that gorgeous countryside and can certainly understand why Cezanne was so passionate about it.

I missed out on a terrific Alice Neel (one of my favorite modern figurative painters) show up in D.C. recently, so I am extra-determined not to miss the Cezanne show and miss out on another opportunity.

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Watching the weather

When Dave and I first married, I used to joke to him that he was a closet weather man. I'd come out to breakfast each morning and he'd be there with the newspaper at the ready, quoting the weather forecast for the day.

In those days I'd scoff at the idea of such preparedness, but once I started painting landscapes, I came to depend on those weather forecasts. There's nothing worse than setting up all of your painting gear and seeing those black clouds roll in when you've only just begun your work! This painting of the Georgia wetlands was created under such circumstances. It is actually named "The Clouds Roll In" and measures 12"x12". Additional details about the painting are available here. Since we were on the road, we weren't able to come back to this site on another day, so I had no choice but to finish it in the studio:

It has still really been either too cold or too rainy for me to paint outside yet, so I've been getting some new studio paintings under way. But my weather man informs me that there are some warm days ahead, so I'm getting my painting gear together in anticipation. I want to grab it and go out in the early morning at the first opportunity. 

Digital Cameras

I had some inquiries at my recent workshop about the kind of digital camera I use, so I thought I would post that information here:

What I use is a Canon G5 Digital Camera . I am no expert on these kinds of things, but I did a lot of research before purchasing, and this is a good 5 mega-pixel camera. At the time of purchase it was NOT cheap, but it had the highest number of mega-pixels on the market in an attainable price range. This is no longer so. There are many other very good cameras on the market, but the G-5 is still very good, so I will have to stick with this one for a while longer.

It is not compact, but more like a traditional body single lens reflex camera. This is something I will need to reconsider in the future because I travel so much and now long for something more compact. It does have a good zoom and can shoot macros (for close up shots) which were the two criteria that were high on my list of priorities. But it is not good at all for action shots (something I don't really need for landscapes and city shots).

The only thing I really don't like about my camera is the lens cap. It would be much better if it had an automatic retractable lens, as the cap can sometimes fall off and you end up needing to clean the lens a lot. (I had a time when I was in Italy trying to figure out how to say, "do you have any lens paper?" in Italian. I think I ended up saying like "Do you have anything for to clean this?" pointing at my lens.) This problem may have been remedied in the next generation of this camera though. There is a newer version out now (the Canon G6  ) that has 7 megapixels. There are also other cameras that have 8 MP and more, so one has a lot of choices, depending on the budget of course. Basically the more MP's you have the higher resolution images you can shoot. The G5 has been discontinued, but is still sold through various outlets. Here is a VERY detailed review of the G5.

You can read more about newer Canon cameras, including the next release of my model (the G6) here.
If you have an opinion about a good digital camera with good zoom and macros, feel free to post a comment about it!

Multi-tasking

I have a lot going on this week so I have kind of hit the ground running since my trip. I am working on two commissions and also preparing for the oil painting workshop I am conducting this Friday in Greenville, North Carolina. I'm also doing some sketches to plan for a number of new paintings, but they will wait until I get these other things finished (or at least well under way.) I am looking forward to the workshop! It's focus: Painting the Landscape in Oils. Read about Jennifer's current and upcoming workshops here!

Postcards from the Southernmost Point

Well, we're back from our Key West trip now and I am getting my bearings again--getting acclimated to waking up to 30 degree mornings again. However, the daffodils are blooming in Richmond, and so we have the promise of spring. In a few more weeks all will be abloom here, so I think I can sustain myself with some Key West memories until then. ;-) The trip was so inspiring and so much fun! I took about 800 pictures and spent my days exploring the island on bicycle with Dave, stopping often to photograph and sketch. I didn't get on the Internet as much as I thought I would, so not much opportunity to blog. But that is okay...I had to make the most of the time I had there, which was much too brief in my opinion (though I can hardly complain!)

Here are a couple of sketches I did on my trip. Along with my photos, the sketches will act as "memory triggers" for larger oil paintings I look forward to creating. This first "postcard" is a view of the courtyard and some of the beautiful gardens in our hotel. Just a quick pen and ink sketch embellished with watercolors:

This next image is a scene I painted in one of the little hidden residential alleys in Old Town, Key West. I visited this alley a couple of times and was drawn to this little scene. The structure looked like a little garden shed but it was maintained so prettily with flowers and tropical foliage. As it turned out this building was actually an artist's studio. No wonder I was attracted to it! I met the artist/owner who was kind enough to show me inside. She is a nice retired lady who lives next door and paints for her own enjoyment, mostly outside on the patio adjacent to this little studio. Don't let the modest exterior fool you...it was a wonderful space! This is a 6x8" pen and ink/watercolor on approximately 7x9" watercolor paper:

 

I will be working on a couple of commissions immediately upon returning home, but be looking for some new Key West oil paintings on my website in the near future!

To see my oil paintings of Key West, click here.

Key West Conch Houses

I'm finally figuring out how to post pictures! Here is a shot of some "conch houses" near where we are staying:

Ever since our first trip to Key West, I have really admired the colorful "conch house" architecture. These structures have diverse architectural roots, hailing from New England, the Caribbean, and even some New Orleans/Creole influences. I just love the colors, simplicity and tropical influence of these houses, and especially the little shotgun cottages. More sketching today, with a focus on these structures.

To see my oil paintings of Key West, click here.

-Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Fun in the Sun

I wish I could figure out how to post images more easily while I am away but the wireless connection is pretty low at the hotel. We are having a great time though and spent the day riding bikes and exploring some more. It is still windy here which makes watermedia difficult for me outdoors, so I am mainly sticking to sketching. I am gathering lots of reference material though and taking a ton of photos for further development back home in the studio. Next time I will definitely want to bring my entire oil setup (I will take my chances with the airlines!) as the oils stay open and workable so much better than watermedia, especially in the wind. Other than that the weather is terrific. Clear blue skies and very little humidity at present. We've rented bikes to get around and it's been fun cruising through some of the lesser known side streets. I could get used to the pace of life here! Here I am sketching in one of the hidden alleys:

 

 

-Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Exploring Key West

We have arrived! We left Richmond on Saturday with temperatures in the 30's and arrived in a warm Key West topping out at 80 degrees! After stopping off at the hotel we went by the Wave Gallery to visit with the owner. I was a little worried that with the recent hurricanes a lot of the flora would have been destroyed. Key West did receive it's share of destruction from the salt water storm surges, but it appears that the old section has largely been spared. It is beautiful here!

I spent yesterday morning doing some gouache studies of the various plants while Dave conducted important business largely involving lounging in the hot tub. By afternoon thunderstorms rolled in, so no painting.

Weather today is sunny but very windy. I may be able to bring a modified setup to do some sketching, but with these winds I might be limited to taking a lot of digital photos.

As soon as I can figure out how to get my photos downloaded remotely I will try and post some pictures.

To see my oil paintings of Key West, click here.

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Off to Key West

I'm off for a few days to bask in some Florida sunshine! I have determined to bring my gouaches and watercolors to make for a very portable plein air setup. Sometimes it is good to experiment and move beyond the comfort zone. I was extremely tempted just to bring my oils, but the compactness of watermedia is hard to beat. I managed to fit almost all of my art supplies into a small 9x12" pack. If I can get my ducks in a row, I hope to post to the blog while traveling. Best wishes, Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Fun with Gouache

I spent some time yesterday playing with gouache paints so that I could see how I liked working with them as a possible candidate for my portable studio. Gouache is a water based medium; basically it is an opaque watercolor. While as an oil painter I wouldn't exactly call it opaque, it is more so than traditional watercolor. I've worked with many different water media before, including gouache, but it has been some time. Here's what I discovered:

My "oops" moments:

  • Some of the colors don't behave at all like either watercolor or oils. In general the gouache colors were somewhat darker and took some experimenting to get the mix I wanted.
  • The paint dries very quickly! In the future I may rethink squeezing out big blobs on my palette all at once (an overzealous oil painter's habit.) If I painted with these outdoors, I'd definitely need a spray bottle or drying retardant to keep my paints moist and fluid while working in the open air.

My "hey, cool!" moments:

  • A very forgiving medium that is easy to work with. Most mistakes can be "lifted off" with water and brush. The opaqueness allows you to paint over certain passages and change the composition (something not so easily done with watercolor.)
  • Versatile- can be mixed with watercolor and pen and ink. Acts as a watercolor for washes, but can also be laid down more opaquely and mixed with white.
  • Easy cleanup. Like watercolor, just a little soap and water does the trick.

Gouache paintings are treated the same as watercolors in terms of care and framing. They should be displayed under glass and kept out of direct sunlight for best longevity. Gouaches tend to like a rigid surface, so a heavy paper or mat board is a good substrate for this medium. Here is a little painting I did of the Provincial countryside:

 

 

 

Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Preparing for Travel

House guests kept my pretty busy during President's day weekend, so not much time for blogging until now. It has snowed off and on here for the past few days, but nothing really lingers too long. The Key West trip coming up this weekend is seeming even sweeter as I look out my window and see yesterday's cold weather remnants on the ground. All I ask is to just keep the roads and airplane wings clear of ice until I can get down south! Today I am playing with some art supplies so that I can determine what to bring with me down to Key West. If I had no limitations I would just bring my oils and easel, because in my opinion there is just nothing like them! But a plein air painter or sketcher has to consider the most portable and lightweight options when traveling, and especially when dealing with the airlines, and oils don't always fit the bill.

Typical plein air travel gear can include:

  • Easel or pochade box with attached tripod
  • Paints
  • Painting medium
  • Paint Thinner (for oils- best to buy this at the destination if possible)
  • Brushes and palette knives
  • Hat and rubber gloves (optional but I am a messy painter)
  • Canister for paint thinner (for oils) or water (for other water media)
  • Small spray bottle filled with water (for water media)
  • Paper towels
  • Plastic bag for trash
  • Bug spray and sunscreen
  • Bottled water
  • Small sketchbook and pencils (for working out compositions)
  • Camera
  • Painting surfaces (canvas, panels, papers, etc.)
  • Wet panel carrier (for oils)

Other optional supplies might be:

  • View finder (a little tool for determining your composition on the fly)
  • Portable chair or stool
  • Extra bungees and weights (for weighting your easel on a windy day)
  • Umbrella
  • A rolling case or dolly to cart all of this stuff around!

By no means am I saying that all of these supplies are required. Some watercolorists get by with two brushes, a watercolor block, sketch pad, a small container, some pens and pencils, and 3 to 5 paint colors, all stashed in a backpack. I think it is all what one feels comfortable with. A studio painter usually has more "stuff" within arms length, and paring down requires some effort and acclimation. I have done both studio and plein air painting, so I feel pretty comfortable with both. Even so the temptation is to bring more (maybe too much) stuff "just in case I need it". I'll try and post my painting kit here once I've figured it out.

-Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Winter Chores

This year one of my main goals is to get organized and streamline my office and studio. There is a great book called Organizing From The Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern that is very helpful in this respect. This book is especially appealing to me because her approach is both creative and accessible. One of her techniques is to set up your environment in stations, according to task. So, for instance, in my studio I have a painting station, a framing station, a storage area, a cleaning station, and so on. Within those stations, every tool or supply has a "home" so that you always know where to find it. That is the idea, any way, and when you set it up like that from the start, it really does work! But when I moved to the new studio I kind of got away from that, and instead just set up as quickly as possible to get started with my painting. This worked for a while, but now my calendar is filling up with travel plans, (Key West countdown: 2 weeks!!) and the upcoming workshop. Organization is not an option, it really is a requirement. It is worth taking that extra bit of time to set things up systematically so that I can work smarter, not harder.

This week is also tax week, which I always rather dread even though I have an okay system and can usually get through just fine. I guess it's just that I already do a lot of desk and computer work with my website design and maintenance. It's a challenge to focus my left brain on papers, reports, and numbers when I have a painting of Venice sitting on my easel calling me.

Read about Jennifer's current and upcoming workshops here!

Travel Plans

Travel is one of the most joyful parts of my life as an artist. I love traveling to new and beautiful places to paint and gather inspiration, and I feel so fortunate that my business is able to support my adventures. This February we will be taking a much welcomed trip down to sunny Key West. We were supposed to go last Spring, but bad weather caused us to cancel those plans. Here's a scene I painted from photos I took on our last trip to Key West. It's called "Sunset Celebration". It measures 11x14", oil on canvas. For more details about the painting, check out my scenes of the American South section on my website:

I've also started planning for a June trip to Lake Como, Italy! I think the scenic views of the lake regions in Northern Italy are some of the most striking and beautiful in the country. The uniqueness of Lake Como is that it is distinctively Mediterranean, with lush flora, palm trees and cypresses, but set against a stunning backdrop of the Alpine mountains. I am so excited to be returning to this area, since the last time I went was many years ago and my camera broke on day two!

I will be painting on location both in Key West and in Como. I am primarily an oil painter but I'm considering bringing watercolors instead, since they allow for easier cleanup and are more portable. Plus, with the new airline regulations I have heard many instances where other artists have had their oil paints confiscated by the airlines. That's quite a setback to experience, considering the painter has to buy a whole new set of expensive paints at the destination site. Supposedly you can bring a letter from the paint manufacturer insisting that the oil paints are made with vegetable oils and do not contain but a trace of ingredients that would be considered "flammable".

But in past trips since 9/11 I have not wanted to take the chance. If I wanted to paint in oils overseas I ended up just shopping for small tubes of paint in the destination country. This can actually be a really fun experience, because there are so many fine products in the art stores of France and Italy. But it does take a bit of extra planning and time if one is going to be staying primarily out in the country.

Oil painting substrates

I thought I'd write a little here about some of the oil painting substrates I use on a regular basis.Canvas: The canvas I use most often for anything over 16x20 inches in size is one that has staples only on the back side of the stretcher bars. Small metal tacks are nailed into the sides of the stretcher to hold the canvas secure. This is a very sturdy, fine canvas with an old world look to it, primed with acrylic gesso. The surface is smooth enough so that it is not absorbent, but not so smooth that there is no canvas "tooth".

The stretched canvases I have been using for my landscapes are standard-depth canvas (around 3/4" deep), so generally the finished paintings are finished off with a frame for display. The great benefit to these canvases is that their depth allows them to easily fit into any variety of frame styles and mouldings, from the very traditional to the very contemporary.

I have lately been considering trying some gallery wrapped canvases for my landscapes. I used to use them in my older work, like the painting shown here. The gallery wrapped canvases are deeper than the standard canvas and have no staples around the perimeter, allowing the canvas edges to be painted as well. They offer a clean contemporary look, and have the benefit of being lightweight and versatile. While these canvases can be framed, one needs to find frames that have very deep rabbet depths so that the canvas edge (which is around 1 1/2" deep) does not extend beyond the frame when you look at it in profile. In general these canvases are meant to have painted edges and are displayed unframed.Panels: Often times for smaller works I will use birchboard panels or gessoed canvas that is mounted on a hardboard or wood panel. (I never use the canvases that are mounted on cardboard. They are too cheap and flimsy and don't hold up for professional use. In any event they are not archival and I use archival materials for my work.)The panels are great for painting out of doors (painting "en plein air") because they are flat and can be packed and carried more easily than stretched canvas. Sometimes I will prime these panels with a neutral base coat of gray or raw sienna. I use these when I travel and for smaller works no larger than 16x20":

 

 After a while they do get heavy, however, so I am always in search of the most lightweight option available! The lightest I've found is the birchboard panels, but these are not commercially available. The birchboard (shown here, bottom gray panel) can be purchased at the hardware store in larger sheets that I have cut down to size. They have a smooth side (for painting) and a rough side. However, I prime them on both sides to seal them and prevent warping.