Small Work to Big Painting

While some artists who paint outdoors consider their plein air pieces to be finished works of art, many others use these studies only as inspiration for larger pieces.

In the past I have rarely used a plein air study to create a larger painting but, because I am a member of a plein air group that is planning an exhibit of larger paintings done from small studies, I have been challenged to explore this further.

I chose a small painting, The Dairy, to begin with. I was fairly pleased with this painting, but I knew there were things I could improve upon.

Black and White Sketch

I did several black and white sketches to see if I wanted to make changes to the composition. I decided to move the buildings to the left a little and to increase the slope of the distant mountain to make it more interesting. I also lowered the trees behind the buildings, showing more of the mountain and allowing the tree on the right to appear larger and more dynamic.

Plein Air study with grid applied

Wrapping the plein air study with cellophane allowed me to draw a grid over it for easier transferring of the image to a larger canvas. Notice that the center point is to the right of the center. This is due to my decision to move the buildings a little to the left on the canvas. Before beginning to paint, I drew a corresponding grid onto the larger canvas with pencil. Using the grid as a visual guide, I lightly sketched the large shapes of the composition onto the canvas with vine charcoal.

18x24 painting blocked in

Using thin paint, I did a block-in of darks and lights using local color.  In the image above, I have also begun to add thicker paint to the dark and medium dark areas of the building on the left.

18x24 painting with more detail added.

My next step was to continue painting the darks and medium darks, adding the fence and other smaller shapes.  This is still a work in progress; the light values will be addressed next and then I will add smaller details in some key areas.

Three Chances to Support Local Art

This is a busy time of year for everyone – and it's the same for we artists. Local artists and craftsmen are busy preparing for events to entertain you and to offer unique gift choices. Art is a great way to support local artists and your local arts organizations. Here are three good choices: 

Art in the Village
Art in the Village is Associated Artists of Winston-Salem's all-member exhibit and fine art sale. It will be held at at 113 Reynolda Village in Winston-Salem, NC (in the former Casanova’s location or the historical “corn crib” near the Village Tavern).

Opening Reception will be held during Reynolda Village’s “Holiday Stroll” on Saturday, November 23, 2013 from 5-8 PM.  Show will be on display from Saturday, November 16 - Monday, December 23, 2013.

This painting, Belcastel, will be on display at the show in Reynolda Village.

 

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls is the Sawtooth School for Visual Arts' largest fundraising event and generates proceeds that help support their organization's operations and arts-based programming. Beautifully displayed in their gallery and gift shop setting, Deck the Halls features a unique variety of work from Sawtooth faculty, students and regional artists. Deck the Halls will be open to the public from December 6 - December 21, 2013 with the Preview Night celebration to be held Thursday, December 5th.

I will be selling some of my pottery and clay ornaments.

 

Germanton Gallery's 21st Annual Miniature Art Show

This is one of the finest art shows in the area and beyond. The list of nationally known artists is impressive and the work is outstanding! All paintings will be 9" x 12" or smaller.

Opening reception will be held Friday, December 6 from 5 - 8 PM. During the reception, Germanton Winery will be offering wine tastings. Local wine is another great gift choice that supports local business!

The gallery will also be open Saturday, December 7 from 10 AM - 4 PM and Sunday, December 8 from 1 PM - 4 PM. Many artists will be on site over the weekend. The show will hang through January 1, 2014.

Gallery located on Germanton Road, 9 miles north of Winston-Salem, NC.

Green Tea will be one of my paintings at the Germanton Show.

Collage is a Big Hit!

I have been volunteering at the local Assisted Living Center for their art sessions on Tuesday afternoons. At first we worked in pastels and some people really loved this, but we wanted something that more people would enjoy - an idea popped into my head. I always loved to work with cut and torn paper and so I decided to give that a try. It's so much easier to do this now with glue sticks available - no messy dishes of glue or acrylic medium to deal with.

This past week we did a pot of flowers starting with a line drawing that I had drawn on the computer and printed out. To expedite the process, I cut leaf and flower shapes from colored tissue paper, textured paper and plain colored paper and gave each person the parts. Of course, as soon as they got engrossed in the process they were asking me to cut out special shapes and colors they needed to make their flower pot complete. I loved that! They were thinking about what they were doing and getting lost in the moment.

Everyone started with this drawing plus flower and leaf shapes cut from paper.

 The best results were the comments about how addictive and fun this activity was and the fact that people got totally lost in the process. They were so interested in what they were doing that they forgot their troubles for awhile. They were proud of their work too.

Here are some of the masterpieces:

Some had orange pots with plain stripes.

 People started adding
their own touches.

"I always wanted to be an artist"

Handles on the pot!

Petals dropping from the pot!

This one was done by the first guy
to have the courage to attend.

New Works at Hampton House Gallery

Yesterday I delivered two large pieces to Hampton House Art and Framing (Coliseum Drive, Winston-Salem, NC). I had just signed one of the, and the paint was still wet when I got Jackie's message asking me to switch out some artwork and bring some larger pieces.  Hanover Park Vineyard, the other one that I delivered to them, is an older piece. If you are in the area, stop in and take a look at the gallery - they just rehung things yesterday after taking down their "Summer Memories" Show.

The Porch at Ciener Garden  18x24 Oil

Hanover Park Vineyard 24 x36 Oil

No upcoming events for this weekend.

Next weekend I will be in Raleigh taking a workshop from Lori Putnam - getting excited about that! Friday, 11/1, Lori will be exhibiting her work at Nicole's Studio, Person St., Raleigh during First Friday Gallery Hop.

ARTSfest 2013

This coming Saturday, September 14, 2013, I will be setting up a booth to display and sell my paintings at the bi-annual ARTSfest in Winston-Salem, NC.

I haven't done an outdoor show in a long, long time so I am feeling kind of overwhelmed.

Today I got out tables, easels and some shelves that I plan to use when setting up my booth and arranged them in my driveway to see how it would fit into my space.  My neighbors are accustomed to my strange ways and don't even ask what I am doing.  Of course, now I have to find a way to disguise this stuff to make a good looking display, but at least I have the skeleton.

My findings, which will serve as my display "skeleton".

 

 

Along with larger, framed paintings, I will have many smaller pieces to sell, including some small, unframed studies for under $100. I try to keep these to standard sizes so a reasonably price ready made frame will work. Nothing worse than finding a nice piece of art at a good price, only to find the framing will triple what it costs before it makes it onto your wall!

Here are a few of the studies that I will be offering for sale:

David's Farm

The Artist's Garden

Tanglewood Stable

If you are in the area, come out to view the art and have some fun at ARTSfest.

Existing With Your Subject

Yesterday I painted at a spot near my home where I often walk. It is a simple place which became beautiful in my eyes only after walking there many times.  When I told my husband where I had been painting, his response was, "there's not much up there, is there?"

This is what I saw the first time I went to this place - the only thing
of interest to me was the crunch of gravel under my shoes.

If you walk there often, at different times of day, and take the time to experience this little stretch of gravel road between two sub-divisions it becomes an oasis in the middle of suburbia. Every time I walked there I would find something beautiful that I hadn't noticed before. There are soft breezes and a morning mist that softens the trees in the distance, creating the most beautiful atmosphere.

Notice how the trees become lighter and cooler (more blue) in the distance
and everything is softened by the morning mist.

The land is higher there, you can see the sky and some beautiful sunrises.

Today I read a blog post, The Power of Slow Art, in The Artists Life blog which put my feelings into words so well that I wanted to share it:

".... the act of slowly walking around in our subject and changing our point of view can do wonders. As we move, the brain adds in the new visual information and builds a more informed three-dimensional picture of our environment..."

 Here are a couple of very quick studies I did before the light changed into the harsh, bright summer daylight. Hopefully I will find the time to paint larger versions of these:

Trying to capture the sky and the bright green weeds along the foreground.

Gravel Road with shadows.

 

Less Thinner, More Color

Last Saturday my friend, Arlene Daniel, and I headed up to Galax, North Carolina to participate in a plein air paint-out at beautiful Mount Vale Vineyards. We left early so we could scout out a good spot to paint; we succeeded in a big way. We found shelter from the sun while overlooking a gorgeous mountain vista that was still under the cover of a morning fog.

Perfect spot to paint at Mount Vale Vineyards; shade,
fun people and lots of lovely views to paint

I noticed that the church to our right was in a veil of soft fog, which is one of my favorite things to paint. It is hard to paint fog as it lifts quickly and you are left with a lot of bright color and detail, none of which you wanted to see until the painting was completed. The trick is to get the colors and values you see onto the canvas right away, take a mental snapshot and keep painting what you saw before the fog lifted. This is not an easy task. I also took a photo in case I needed reference for later. This painting came about quickly and with less effort than usual, but I wasn't sure why.

Painting of early morning fog at Mount Vale Vineyard.

Now that the fog was gone, I chose another view to my left and began to work on that. Same thing happened. The painting went quickly and I was pleased with it. I had to figure out why!

Painting of distant farm after the fog lifted.

I took stock of how I had been painting that morning and I realized that I had not been dipping my brush into the Gamsol (mineral spirits) nearly as often as I usually do. I had been cleaning paint from my brush with a dry paper towel and avoiding the Gamsol. This kept my paint thicker and stronger in color. I was able to lay the color on without blending it in, which gave a cleaner look to the painting. I was forced to mix the in between colors and paint them on the canvas rather than creating a muddy mid-color with a brush full of paint thinner.

This week in the studio, I continued using this new method and was very happy with the results. I finished two paintings that I had started months ago. One had been going well and I was a bit afraid to start work on it again - the other one had problems. I finished both and am pleased with both, but that's not to say I won't find something to fix later!

Traveling with Family - 11x14 Oil

Three Dancers - 12 x 16 Oil