Thanks to EmptyEasel.com for featuring my landscape paintings!

A few weeks ago, Dan at Empty Easel was kind enough to feature my plein air painting demo on his art site. I'm thankful to him again, because today he's given me a very nice a write up about the latest landscape paintings I've created for my current show  about the luminous landscape. If you have an interest in the arts, do check out his site. He regularly features the works of artists he's reviewed from around the internet, plus he has wonderful tips for art and painting as well as Internet art marketing. If you're an artist, consider submitting your work or an article yourself for a possible feature.

...And if you're in the Richmond area, my show "Luminosity" is still on view until December 1st, so come by my studio/gallery this Friday during the art walk if you can,  or just contact me to visit the gallery at another time.

Do you Squidoo? My new lens on hanging artwork.

According to Wikipedia,

"Squidoo is a network of user-generated lenses --single pages that highlights one person's point of view, recommendations, or expertise."

According to me, it's pretty addictive! I've really been enjoying surfing it, and I've also created a couple of lenses of my own. My most recent lens is: Hanging Artwork and Caring for Your Art Collection. While I've blogged some of this information before, I've included new content on my lens that I hope will be of interest to art lovers and art collectors. I've also just updated my other lens on landscape painting with new content, so check them out! And if you enjoy my lenses, please consider leaving a star rating for them at the top of the screen.

Plein air painting; "Falling leaves on Wilmington Ave."

It's been a wet couple of days here in Richmond, so I'm glad I went out eariler in the week to paint some of the autumn colors in my Northside neighborhood. This little fall street scene vignette was done on location not too far from where I live:

"Falling Leaves on Wilmington Avenue" Oil on Canvas, 6x8" Contact me for more info.

For this plein air painting, I set my easel up just in front of a lovely row of blazing orange-red maple trees in front of Ginter Park Baptist Church. The view looks down Wilmington Avenue to the cross-section where it meets Brook Road.

Just at the end of  Wilmingon on Brook sits the suggestion of a neighboring home. All that was visible through the canopy of trees was a bit of hedge, and then beyond that a front door flanked by two columns.

I think these elements give the eye a place to rest. But the main attraction for me was, of course, the color of those leaves and the patterns of morning light and shadow that fell across the road.

Art opening tonight: "Luminosity"

I've been scrambling this week to get everything finished for the opening  for my exhibit of new landscape  paintings tonight here at the gallery, and I'm officially pooped. The good news is, the show looks great, and  I can now take few hours to rest before we open up tonight. Come out and see us if you are coming downtown tonight or are doing the First Fridays Richmond art walk! Here are the details for tonights event:

"Luminosity" Art Exhibit at Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery

Richmond, VA –  Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery will feature new paintings of the luminous landscape by Jennifer Young.  The show opens on Friday October 5th, 2007, with a reception from 6 to 8:30  PM. Opening night music provided by Russell Young. The exhibit continues through November 30th.   Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery is located at 16 East Main Street, two blocks east of the Jefferson Hotel. Click here to view a map and get directions from your location. For additional information please contact us!

Back from Hatteras & a plein air sunrise

I'm baaaaack. Everything about my Cape Hatteras vacation was perfect (weather, house, food, beach). And for the first time in a long time I took a true vacation, where lounging was required and painting was optional. Even when you do something you love for work, you still need to recharge. All work and no play make for less good work overall, in my opinion. HOWEVER....the sunrises were spectacular and I couldn't resist making at least one attempt at caputuring it en plein air. Here it is:

Hatteras Sunrise Oil on cavas, 6x8"

For more information, please contact me.

Plein air painting tips

The other day Misti posed a few really good questions in my comments section about plein air painting. So I thought I'd share her questions and expand on my response below.

 "I have been wanting to do some plein air work but am sort of afraid of diving in. I think it is the whole finished product I am afraid of as well as the time. How long do you spend working on a painting and what do you do with light changes? or do you choose a specific time when you will have the most time?Thanks!"

Thanks for your comment. As I said in my previous response, I can really empathize with your concerns. It's common to want to feel a sense of accomplishment when you put forth such effort. When I first started painting en plein air, a lot of my studies went straight from easel to the trash heap! It can take some time to really develop a process that works well enough to capture that fleeting light and elusive feeling that inspired you to paint it in the first place.

A few thoughts and suggestions:

• To battle with that ever-changing light, it helps if you make a decision about the light you want to paint, and commit to that even if the light changes and the clouds roll in. This is very challenging, as you have to get your main color and shadow notes down pretty quickly to commit to that idea.
• Due to its rectangular format, a  photograph will already provide a composition for your painting. When you're painting on location it can be a little overwhelming because the scene before you is so expansive and it can be difficult to translate all of that 3-D information onto a small rectangular 2 dimensional plane. 
• To help with this, it is a very good idea to do a little planning even before you start your painting. I like to bring a small sketchbook with me and make some very quick thumbnail pencil sketches before I commit to a particular composition. In this way I can determine where to place my center of interest and how to frame my scene. 
• In regards to "how long," two hours has been the maximum amount of time that I've been able to paint at one sitting on location, and even then that can be pushing it. Any longer and the light has changed too drastically and it just causes you confusion. Better to come back to the scene at the same time again the next day and finish up.
• If a return visit on a subsequent day isn't possible, another option is to take a photo when you start and when you end and use these references to make a few finishing touches to your painting. The danger here is that once you get back to the studio you can lose the information and freshness you've captured on location if you overwork it too much away from the source.
• A better option may be to work small. This is particularly true if you are just beginning to paint on location. Working on small canvases allows you to more easily cover your canvas in the limited time frame. You may feel less overwhelmed and less worried about possible "failure" (though in reality, any time spent learning is never a failure, regardless of the finished product!)
• As for the time of day, mornings and evenings offer the most interesting light and shadow. By noon all of the light is pretty flat and shadows have disappeared, so this is least appealing to me. I find the mornings a little easier than the evenings, simply because the light doesn't change quite so quickly. However, there is nothing so seductive as that beautiful golden evening light. And if you really want to do some turbo-charged painting, try painting a sunset!
• Most importantly, go about it with an open mind and with no expectations other than that you are showing up to learn and to experience. With persistence your studies will get stronger, and the benefit you have gained from the experience will pay off big time for you in your studio work as well. At least, that is what I have found in my own work.

And with those thoughts on plein air painting, I am off for a week to do a little of my own. We're off to the beach and I'd be surprised if blogging will be an option. Have a great Labor Day Weekend everyone and I'll be back to posting when I return!

My plein air demo featured on EmptyEasel.com!

Just a quick note of announcement to say that my plein air painting demonstration is being featured today over at Empty Easel.com.  Thanks so much to Dan for the feature! I've referred to  this site before, and I'll say it again...If you haven't yet visited this content-rich website, I highly recommend a visit. Empty Easel has a lot of great articles, tips and features especially useful to the artist.  His section on selling art online  is unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. Dan takes a serious and in-depth look at different online venues, with side-by-side comparisons of features, costs, ease of use, etc. Lots of data to mull over here and elsewhere on the site. Check it out!

Art Books; Landscape Painting Inside & Out

In my last post I mentioned Kevin Macpherson's latest book, Landscape Painting Inside & Out. This is a nice companion to his first wonderful book Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light and Color. The latter focuses primarily on plein air painting, while the former encompases both plein air and studio work. In his newest book, the author does a pretty thorough job of describing his supplies and tools of the trade for both his permanent studio and his portable one. Personally I really enjoyed the photos he's included of his indoor studio, (which is dreamy!) as it gives the artist (who likes to dream) some good ideas about how to plan a good setup. It was interesting for me to see that he puts his taboret in front of his easel, so that his color mixing palette is directly in front of him rather than off to the side, mimicking the setup one would have on a smaller scale outdoors. I work in the exact same way, with a mini-taboret on wheels my husband rigged up for me using a small laundry cart.

Subsequent sections touch on the different qualities of light and their effect on your subject, as well as value relationships and shape relationships. He has an interesting way of explaining the importance of describing elements in the landscape in terms of shape rather than rendering every minute detail. Here the book shows various black and white silhouettes to explain that an accurate contour is what describes an object. For example, one should be more concerned with the shape of a tree and largely indicate this  as one mass, using details such as individual leaves sparingly and just to accent and better define the subject.

This book touches on a lot of different concerns for the landscape painter. Aside from the ones I mentioned above, the author addresses edges, color temperature, and includes a very interesting section on planning and designing the painting. Several of these subjects are covered in just one or two pages, but they are well articulated and will give the serious landscape painter a starting point for further investigation.

After this overview comes what I consider the "meat" of the book--a large section on painting outside on location and another substantial one on translating your outdoor studies into larger studio works. In these sections, as in his previous book, Macpherson provides several very well described demonstrations of his processes. These sections appeal to me very much. I personally love demos, as it is easier for me to understand visually than it is having it explained.

What is particularly interesting to me about this part is the way the author encourages experimentation. He includes a few demos using different limited palettes that give the reader some ideas-- experimenting with an earth primary palette, using a strong color palette, or using a set palette with a monochrome (grey) underpainting.

Different from his last book, Macpherson includes a final section on "The Path to Success". This is really a topic worthy of an entire book (or a series of books). Macpherson goes into no detail at all about how to manage one's art career, but merely touches on some things to think about. Largely he writes about things like being inspired, doing what you love, setting goals, blah blah blah. Sure, all of this is important, but it's dealt with in a pretty vague manner and personally this is the least informative section of the book which covers about the last 15 pages. I suppose it is really just meant to be inspiring, so as long as you don't expect more, you may really enjoy this part.

Overall, this is a very interesting book with some very beautiful color reproductions of the artist's lush, impressionistic paintings. The demos are good, and I like that the breakout topics are geared more towards experienced painters who might be looking to experiment or deepen their understanding of landscape painting.  Macpherson does do a  good bit of selling of his other products, such as his other book, video and his "Kevin Macpherson Plein Air Palette" and "Kevin Macpherson Prochade Kit".  But this to me is only mildly annoying because I'd probably do the same thing if I offered these kinds of products. ;-) And heck! It must have worked...I've ordered his Prochade Kit for myself and will probably blog about it once I've had a chance to try it out.

Painting is a response (so move the $%#! tree).

I was talking to a non-painter about painting recently and she said, "The kind of art I like is imaginative. I don't care much for a copy of a photograph or a copy of a scene even in life. It's far more interesting to me to see a painting that came from the artist's head." Well, I couldn't agree more. But I hate to break it to her; all art comes from the "artist's head." The artist is painting in response to something, whether it be a concept or idea, a story, or an observation. Even in landscape painting (or any kind of painting even remotely related to realism) I think that true artistry occurs when the artist is not copying, but painting her response to a subject, and is fully able to communicate that response in a way that is original and distills the subject to its essence.

The reasons behind my choice of subjects vary. Sometimes it is the sheer beauty of a place that triggers an emotional response. Sometimes the scene evokes a memory. Sometimes it is the light. Sometimes I respond to something as simple as lines and planes. But it is all about my response or my interpretation.

Copying a scene so that it looks like a photo, or even looks like the view in front of me in the open air, is not nearly as important to me as expressing my response to the subject. As I heard artist Kenn Backhaus say once, "I'm not interested in making historical paintings." Backhaus paints en plein air, but he also uses many different combinations of his own photos at times to inform his studio paintings. He uses these resources in order to express his unique vision, frequently with masterful results.

I work in a similar manner (but still working on the mastery part.) ;-) Sometimes one scene says it all. Other times I may combine several different elements from varying photos and studies to relay the idea or feeling about a place or experience. Even in realism, the subject matter is the jumping off point. It is subordinate to the idea --just one vehicle for the greater goal of artistic expression.

Painting on location is important for the simple reason that there is more to respond to in life than in a photo. But even painting en plein air, artists can fall into the trap of subordinating their art for the sake of historical accuracy. I was out painting with a fellow artist once and we set up in different locations to paint the same scene. I took a break from my work and inquired about my friend's progress. "It's going okay," he said. "But I wish that tree was in a different place." "Then for heaven's sake," I said. "You're an artist! Move the $%#!  tree."

Painting successfully from photos offers its own set of challenges, because you are responding to a frozen moment in time. That is not how the eyes see and not how we respond in life. In addition to painting en plein air, I do work from photos. But they are my own photos, usually taken from travels where I have made a point to also do some painting or sketching (accompanied usually by long spans of sitting and sighing and blissfully observing) on location. So even working from my photos, it is always about my experience, except that I am also having to rely more on memory than from life in the moment.

As an artist I've worked using many different approaches. Sometimes it all does come "from my head", and at other times I use nature as my inspiration. There are times when I am so seduced by a scene that I find it perfect, and I try to capture it just as I see it. But even then, I try to keep in mind my ultimate goal to make a strong painting that communicates my unique response. I may not always find success, but it's something to move towards. And if a tree gets in my way, I have no qualms about moving the $%#! tree.

Plein air painting; St. Michaels Boat House

I'm back in the studio now and assessing the work I did last week on location in Easton Maryland. In some cases I will clean up these pieces up or make some other adjustments, but first I will just prop them up in my studio and study them for a while. This is a little 8x10" study I did at the Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. This was done in the morning, on the same day as the afternoon painting of the "Delaware" tugboat I mentioned in an earlier post.

Plein air painting; Top 10 things I love

Here is a follow up to my previous top 10 list about painting on location. You will notice that some of the things that I cited as pains in the tuccus are also some of the very things I love. And there is a lot more to love than what I've written below! 

1. The challenge of racing against time to capture the ever changing light. 
2. Appreciating the beauty of the natural world firsthand.
3. Being outside to witness the special quality of light that comes early in the morning (before breakfast) and just before sunset (around dinner time).
4. Getting lost in the experience (this happens for me in the studio, but not as intensely as it does when I'm painting on location. I lose all track of time and am able to be in hyperfocus.)
5. Those ah-ha paintings-- When everything about the painting experience gels and you've said everything you wanted to say with an economy of brushstroke and a real understanding of the light (makes all those other half-finished plein air studies worthwhile!)
6. Connecting with so many kind and interesting people from all over the world.
7. Using all of your senses to create--seeing so much more color and information in nature than it is ever possible to see in photographs.
8. The challenge of editing out some of that color and information to make a cohesive and well composed painting.
9. Painting along with other artists and seeing how differently they interpret the same scene.
10. Those moments of quiet solitude, but not really feeling "alone" because you are a part of it all!

Plein air painting; View Across the Harbor, Oxford, Maryland

I don't normally paint views of such great distance, but this was a lively little harbor scene and so representative of the little town of Oxford on Maryland's Eastern Shore; charming, quaint, small and picturesque. This was painted mid morning (started around 9:30) on location. I found one tree to shade me, while I used my umbrella to shade my painting and my palette. Of course I still managed to get sunburn!  This painting is 9x12" and is oil on canvas.

 

Here I am using the same limited palette of 6 colors plus white that I have used all week, which is incidentally the same palette that the talented plein air painter and instructor Kenn Backhaus recommends. How he manages to get such seductive color with so few pigments still eludes me, but I am determined to figure it out!

Plein air painting; Top 10 things that are a pain in the tuccus

Since I've been doing quite a bit of painting on location this summer, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts about the experience of plein air painting. I'll deal with the less desirable aspects first, and then follow up with what I love: 

1. Bugs of all kinds (ticks, mosquitoes, bees, etc.). I'm not the world's bravest outdoorsy type and I hate the creepy crawlies.
2. Sunburn! There is no way to avoid the sun. Be prepared and deal with it.
3. Being covered in goo (otherwise known as bug spray and sunscreen) due to list items 1 and 2.
4. Finding a location with lots of lovely shady spots, but the amazing scene that you are passionately in love with is only visible when standing in the blazing sun.
5. Forgetting to pack one essential thing (and I ALWAYS seem to forget to pack one essential thing!)
6. Having to lug around a bunch of heavy art supplies and equipment (no matter how much I try to pare down, it is still too much stuff!)
7. Getting out before breakfast time and staying out beyond dinner time because that's when the best light is. (Okay, my days revolve around my meals. Note; those are TWO meals I'm missing! )
8. Getting in the groove while the light is excellent, only to encounter a passer-by who feels like a nice, long chat.
9. Enduring the elements (sun, wind, rain, heat, cold, ever-changing light, etc.), all the while hoping to create something brilliant.
10.  Spending 2 to 3 hours painting and ending up with something that's nowhere near "brilliant"!

Lest you are thinking, "Stop your complaining. If you don't like it, stay inside!", stay tuned for the top 10 things to love about plein air painting and see why I put up with it and am becoming more and more obsessed with it. You may be surprised to find some overlap ;-)

The Delaware; plein air painting in St. Michaels

Another hot day painting outdoors, but at least the humidity was a bit more bearable. There was a nice breeze too, which kicked up mightily while I was painting this little tugboat in the harbor at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. It was so windy, in fact that I was afraid to attach my umbrella to my easel. I had to hold my umbrella in one hand to shade my painting and palette, and paint with the other hand. I never before realized how much I needed two hands for painting! I chatted with the owner of this tugboat briefly and he assured me I had captured a decent likeness. "It's called The Delaware," he said as he was walking away. "The Delaware!"  I guess I have a title. The Delaware it is!

[where: 21663]

Maryland's Eastern Shore is an artist friendly place!

The Eastern Shore of Maryland has lot to offer for the plein air painter. In my vicinity I can paint the harbors, wetlands, and charming little villages like St. Michael's, Oxford, Tilghmand Island, and Easton. The people here seem pretty used to plein air painters too, since Easton just recently hosted a plein air festival and paint out. It is really nice to visit an area that is so supportive of the arts. Everywhere I go, the local establishments in Easton have plein air paintings on display. Even if I didn't paint at all, there are lots of shops, art galleries and restaurants to enjoy. If you're into antiques they seem big into that as well! And of course there is fishing. Lots of fishing! But what I like most is the natural beauty combined with the local charm of the area. You can drive out in several directions and hit the water, as small creeks, tributaries, and larger bodies of water finger their way into the land. It is fairly easy to find potential painting sites. It is also easy to pull off on the side of the road if something catches your eye. I love that there are bike paths along the byways, and big wide shoulders. I will definitely return to paint here again. I imagine spring or fall would be lovely (and a bit gentler in terms of the outside temperature!)

Tilghman Island Wetlands; Plein air painting

This piece was painted at about 5 pm. after a full day of painting in the hot, hot, sun. Sun sets around here at around 8 pm. but even so the light changed very quickly. There was a pinkish haze in the clouds and sky which may not be showing up that well in the image here, and the greys are really have more color in them, but I'm using limited image editing software on the road. This painting is 8"x10" and painted with the same 6 color + white palette I used yesterday.

A hazy day at Tilghman Island

If you are on the east coast, perhaps you witnessed some of that torrential driving rain that came through various parts yesterday. Well, I drove through it to get to the Eastern Shore! But I finally made it in one piece and got out to Tilghman Island to paint  the boats near the marina.  It was a very hot, hazy and humid day. The sun was out but it was a rather diffused, flat  but ever changing light that made for fairly close value ranges and a bit of a challenging subject. I started rather late in the morning but made this oil sketch with a limited palette of 6 colors plus white:

For this painting I used cadmium yellow light, raw sienna, alizarin crimson, permanent rose, ultramarine blue, ivory black and titanium white.  This is not my usual palette which is more of a double primary plus an extra color or two (and also devoid of black). But I'm practicing with the limited palette en plein air because it really helps to learn how to mix colors. It is also much lighter on the load if you can carry fewer paints!

Off to the Eastern Shore

I'm taking off for a few days to the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the intention of doing a little painting on location.  Blogging may be spotty if at all due to limited internet access, but I will try. I have been taking advantage of travel this summer since things always seem to kick into high gear in the fall and things at the gallery can get pretty busy. In light of my travels I will not be participating in the August First Fridays Richmond Art Walk (I'll gear back up again for the Art Walk in September). But there will still be a lot going on at the other venues, so be sure to check them out if you are in Richmond.

Plein air painting in Maymont Park

It was such a beautiful morning (and uncharacteristically NOT humid!) that I went down to Maymont Park to paint the crepe myrtles in full bloom. I was dissuaded from heading into the main part of the park because several busloads of people were unloading themselves at the entrance. Sometimes I don't care about the crowds but today I wasn't in the mood. So I looked around and saw a rather ignored (and slightly overgrown) little park just across the street with some nice pink crepe myrtles and a stone obelisk. I will probably touch this piece up a bit, so I am calling it a work in progress, though I consider it nearly completed on site. 

"Dooley Monument, Richmond" 12"x9" (work in progress)

I don't know if this obelisk has another name than the one I've given it. My research so far has turned up nothing on this specific monument, though the writing on the stone clearly honors Mr. James H. Dooley, benefactor of many charitable and civic causes in the City of Richmond and the former owner of the property that is now Maymont Park.

What attracted me to this particular scene was the vertical movement of the monument and the trees, countered by the horizontal shadows that spilled across the ground.

Ocracoke- Painting in the Wind!

I don't know if you've been watching the HUGE storm pattern that has been tormenting the Southeast lately, but it's a doozie. Luckily, Ocracoke has had only a mild version of the storm that has wreaked havoc on its neighbors.

We have had sun, rain, sun, rain, clouds, sun and clouds.

Changing light and most especially wind are the nemesis of the plein air painter, but then again, that is part of the fun of it.  Here is a scene of the harbor on a sunny and very windy morning.

Obviously this painting isn't finished. In fact there is LOTS to do if I want to develop this piece. The mast and water need work, as does some shading on the boat. But considering that I had to catch my panel mid-air!! before it went splat in the sand due to the high wind (did I say this was fun?!)  I think I got a fairly good impression of my subject matter. In any event, my companion seemed much more interested in his plastic water bottle-toy, and pretty much unfazed by all of my antics (alas, we were never properly introduced!)

Aside from the wind and a few moments of summer showers, we've made out pretty well. Noses are sunburned, and we've enjoyed the wild beauty of this area. The beaches aren't too bad either!