The Sketch Book Diaries: 100 Plein Airs Project

Thursday, April 14, 2011

100 Plein Airs - 6#

Old farm house on Muddy Creek Rd in Pungo. Oil on Masonite, 9x12.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

After struggling against the cold and wind, I did have a great location on the bridge and the view was good. Pungo in Virginia Beach on the Blackwater bridge, oil on 9x12 canvas board. Only 95 more paintings to go!

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

100 Plein Airs - 4#

I took a trip over to Pungo, in south eastern Virginia Beach beyond the green line, for those that remembered what that was supposed to be. Munden's was a general store back in the hey day, now it looks like it's on it's last leg, the porch was covered with orange plastic which I didn't add, mostly to preserve the dignity of this landmark. Munden's off of Princess Anne Rd, 9x12 oil on canvas board.

100 Plein Airs - 3#

My 3rd plein air of 2011 at Mount Trashmore on the lakeside in Virginia Beach. Oil on masonite 11x14, somewhat windy that day.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

100 Plein Airs - 2#

Second plein air painting of this year. I loved seeing this car and I knew I had to paint it. "Blue Bel Air" oil on cavas board, 9x12 inches. Painted this February 24th, somewhere in western Virginia Beach on the edge of a trailer park near Shore Dr.

Monday, April 04, 2011

100 Plein Airs - 1#

So I read in a magazine that to really understand how to paint outside, en plein air, one should do about 100 paintings. I'm thinking that's some damn good advice. So I'm going to post my plein air paintings that I've done this year so far. I could start my count from 2009, when I began painting outside, but what's the point? The paintings are old and don't count really. I'll still write my thoughts about painting here as I progress in general, but this sounds like a good way to keep on a steady learning track.
And so with that said, here's my first plein air of 2011. "Imperial Gallery" off of Virginia Beach Blvd. It's an old gallery behind a gun shop. It was painted in February 18th, 2011.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Finding time to paint....

If you can't find time to paint, you find time to prepare. That way, you are not left staring at a blank canvas wondering what to do. When I am ready to paint, I know exactly what my subject will be. The small sections of time that I have available is spent planning my next paintings. Sometimes it's sketching ideas out. Other times it's priming my Masonite boards with gesso or a color tone. My point is, time can be found and made use of so that when you are ready to paint, it's spent doing just that. Prepare here and there with the small minutes, paint when you have a couple of hours.

Friday, March 25, 2011

My Paints

The paints on top are the ones I use most. The second row is colors I mix into the top row frequently. The third row are paints that I use here and there. If anyone wants a complete list, I'll be more than happy to oblige. After I shot this I found a cap to my Naples Yellow. They are notorious for breaking.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

When is a Painting Done : pt.2

Finishing a painting is a tough thing to do starting out. The only real way I was able to break out of the gridlock of incomplete paintings was figure drawing from life. Before I got back into figure drawing seriously, my paintings were far and few between. I had to struggle a lot to make decisions that would enable me to finish a painting. Once in the setting of an academic figure drawing group, I had the healthy environment to speed up my drawing. Make quick and permanent decision to go foward. Mostly, I had to trainwreck a hundred drawings, sketches and paintings to get one that was halfway successful. It's drive and determination that gets an artist through a train wreck to finish the art. I remind myself that writing this journal helps me understand how much harder I must work to achieve the goals I have set for myself in mastering painting. So many of my friends lose their passion for art. I hope I don't become like them and find my paintings for sale in some corner thrift shop years later.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Painting anything & everything builds your visual vocabulary

I was once again humbled by nature. Outside today, I was painting some trees in blossom that only are a soft shade of white once a year for only a couple of days. It became quickly obvious to me that I have no spent enough time painting outside, especially trees. I floundered through most of it, with even a pivotal moment of doubt. Perseverance paid off, and I did make an ok painting. Everything I've read and learned about plein air painting helped me. I wanted to build the painting in the manner of several artists I admire, but due to limited time, I plopped paint down as fast as possible. While not a showcase art piece, I reaffirmed by knowledge that if I am to get good at this I must broaden my visual knowledge. In some ways it pIein air is an open dictionary with plenty of words I must learn before I can make complete sentences. "Trees" is something I need to master when it comes to painting. I learned that faking still water on a windy day is necessary too.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Finishing a Painting.

What happens when the painting is done? I can't speak for anyone but myself. There is the sense of accomplishment followed by the immediate need to have feedback from others. It's always curious to see how others respond to the work. Was the color good? Did the composition make sense? Does it resonate with people? Or was the work really lackluster? Most of all of, did I gain knowledge from the creation process? On occasion, some paintings leave me feeling that I have failed. Those are the ones that sting. The question turns to should I then destroy it? Or salvage the canvas / masonite with gesso and start anew? Tonight, I destroyed my Easton Plein Air 2 hour paint off entry, from last year. Sanded it down, gessoed it and got it ready to make a new painting tomorrow. I have some more to discuss, but I'm falling asleep while typing this.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Actual Effects of Squinting

So I've been reading and a lot of advice is to squint while observing your subject to simplify what you are looking at. I'm also wondering if that also improves the effect of depth of field by your eye lashes deflecting light and causing color to fade more in distant objects. If our eye lashes causes light to become more diffused, why is it that objects closer to us retain more color and objects further away lose the intensity of color the further away it gets? I know that squinting can also help decide what edges can be softened and which ones need to stay crisp. Upon further reflection how does distance work out when it is night time and we are trying to gauge distance? With city light, I can only imagine that distance is indicated through mixing of complimentary colors to get warm and cool tones without using a Paynes Gray or White.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Speed Painting Landscapes Reconsidered

This past fall, I had experimented with speed painting outside. 30 to 35 min. of painting with reckless abandonment. It was very frustrating, mostly because I was probably using a full palette of color. I plan to revisit the speed painting outside but with a single color of burnt umber. It's undeniable that the faster and more economical brush strokes prevent one from second guessing each step. This is one of the reasons I have made limited use of digital painting as of late. The temptation of "cmd Z" and layers invites a plethora of indecisions. Of which, once mistakes are undone, they are quickly forgotten. I'll post some in the coming days.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Another Great Book I'm currently reading

I happen to stumble upon this book at Barnes & Nobles last week and remembered reading a review from Nathan Fowkes, (another artist I greatly admire). This book is about how "SEE" color and light. I'm not sure I would have fully appreciated this if I had not already read "Alla Prima" by Richard Schmid. It's definitely on my list of things to buy soon. It goes for about $25 which is a steal for the in depth insight Gurney gives on the subject. I have a model shoot coming up and a new light kit I'm using. So, I will be thinking about the tips mentioned in this book and hope to make good use of the knowledge gained during the shoot. Main lesson I've focused on today is observing how shadows fall on surfaces from various light sources. Plus, how reflections and color are affecting the surface area.

Inspiration...

For just a little bit of clarification for the this blog going forward, I wanted something to document my learning and process as I develop my skills as a painter. It's taken a long time to establish my goals and the obstacles to overcome to achieve them. By logging my learning experiences, I hope to stay on a steady path of development. As an artist, I'm always finding things that I would like to do and sometimes that deters me from my main goals, or even takes me completely off my path. My main purpose for writing this down in a daily blog is so that I get in the habit of keeping on target to becoming the best possible painter that I can hope to achieve. Someone is always telling me, "Doug, your so talented!". Man, I wish they could see all the hard work I've put in to get me this far. Honestly, I don't believe in talent, well in most cases. I believe in hard work, I don't believe that someone, just anyone, can pick up a paint brush and instantly whip out a painting that is on par with John Singer Sargent. It just doesn't happen. What's really behind a good artist is years of hard dedicated work to understand color, form and most of all the actual ability to "see". I can't say that I have mastered the ability to "see", but I can tell you the book that I read that opened the visual world of color before me. "Alla Prima" Every Thing I Know About Painting by Richard Schmid. The best book I have yet to read that is written about painting. There are other books that I really good, but this is the book that clarified so many things out there for me. It also broke down some barriers for me as well. I learned that 'Landscapes' are not easy, in fact they are really difficult to capture, especially when you are outdoors painting. "Alla Prima" opened doors for me to try different subjects. A friend loaned me his book, and I read it from cover to cover twice. I kept it for almost a year. Finally, out of guilt, I returned it. To my relief, he had completely forgotten about it and told me I should have kept it. I didn't and I told him the best thing he can do is read it and not look at it for the paintings alone. The words in this book have stayed with me, well some of them. So yesterday, my favorite book came in the mail. It's out of print from what I've read, but you can buy it online, there are plenty out there, I found mine on Amazon for just under $70 bucks and it was worth every penny.