Great Falls {en plein air}

Potomac River Series 29 - Great Falls

{approx 5" x 9" (12.7 x 22.9 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

matted, size 11" x 14" - $175 + S&H

When creating art, I find I am totally focused on the present, in tune with my surroundings and eager to understand and know what is before me better than I ever have before. When I go outside to paint, awareness grows stronger in me and I feel invigorated and inspired with life.

Yesterday a friend and fellow artist reminded me of a quote by Eugene Boudin

"Everything that is painted directly and on the spot has always a strength, a power, and a vivacity of touch"

I think this belief in the strength of being in the moment and interacting with it as an equal participant applies to all aspects of life. By being present and involved the sense of self grows.

I hope this post inspires you to engage in your world and to find areas where you can interact in a direct method, just like painting on location.

Starting up the Potomac River Series again...

Potomac River Series 28

{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

$95 + S&H

I am will be starting up this series again this summer, and this is the first of many to come...

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Here is a recent photo of Naomi {she turned 10 months old yesterday}, we were out for a morning walk and it was a bit crisp...

Potomac River Series at Great Falls National Park

Potomac River Series XXIV
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

On Saturday I met up with two friends to do a little painting at Great Falls National Park, the day was crisp and sunny and perfect for painting.

Like most other painting excursions I brought Naomi with me and she seemed to enjoy observing all the visitors that came to the park.

Plein Air Painting: Potomac River Series at River Farm

Potomac River Series XXVI - River Farm
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}


Today was a beautiful day! Which meant that Ann, Naomi, and I went out to do a bit of painting, this time we met at River Farm along the Potomac River.

I am having to become a "quick draw" artist because even though I was out there for almost two hours I really only got about 45 minutes total to dedicate towards painting, my "little helper" kept needing attention.


{our setup}

For this painting I blocked in the drawing using perm. alizerin crimson, which is a great foil for all the greens that will end up being in the painting. To create a sense of atmospheric depth I laid in a deep red/purple underpainting for the background trees.


{Naomi all cozy}


{all packed up to head home}

Naomi's stroller also doubles as a pack horse, where I sling some of my plein air supplies on it, so I do not have to physically lug much around, which works out well...

First Plein Air Expedition...

{my painting setup and Naomi in the background}

Today was our first plein air painting trip, that is Naomi was in attendance. We met up with a friend for an afternoon by the Potomac River.

The weather turned out great, nice temperature and breeze, and no bugs!


{Potomac River Series XXV - approx. 7" x 5" (17.8 x 12.7 cm) - Oil on Gessoed Paper}

And while out I did manage to grab an opportunity to paint! Initially it did not seem like it would work out, I had set up my easel and paint, when Naomi decided she was awake and wanted attention. She eventually settled down and I was able to make the most of what time we had left before needing to leave to beat the rush hour traffic.

Plein Air Painting: this week's excursions

Hello,

Here are the paintings from this week's plein air excursions. I know this weekend will be full, so I do not plan on going out to paint.


Potomac River Series XXIII - Old Town SOLD
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

It was the brightness of the creamy house constrasted with the verdent greens of the trees and hedges that captured my attention, so I worked on trying to capture the nuances of the colors and values found on the house and in the trees. I particularly like how Colin Page paints buildings, he manages to capture all the subtle color changes in a wall plain, thus making what could be a simple and boring block of color into something dynamic.


Potomac River Series XXIV
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Yesterday we were back on the river, it was low tide and the air was particularly hazy. I have come to love the hazy mornings of the DC region.

Since working on this plein air project of capturing various views of the Potomac River between Mount Vernon and Old Town I have been scouting out other plein air artists that have blogs. Here is a short list of artists I have enjoyed learning more about.

. Colin Page
. Marc Hanson
. Terry Miura

Do any of you have other recommendations? I would love learn about other plein air artists that blog and add them to my daily reading...

Thanks, and have a wonderful weekend! Liz

Plein Air Painting: Last week's excursions

Hello,

This week has flown by and I regret that in the evenings I am so exhausted that sharing last week's plein air paintings has not occurred until this afternoon.

The pregnancy is coming to an end and with it I am also trying to tie up loose ends, this includes lots of errands, shopping, cooking lots of freezer meals, and finalizing details of the nursery. Exciting times are ahead, however I am also trying to get as much painting in as possible knowing that I will take some time off to care for the little one when she arrives.

Here are last week's plein air studies:


Potomac River Series XIX
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

The morning my friend and I went out painting was perfect, the weather and light was best so far since I began this project. The sky was full of dramatic cloud formations unfortunately I did not try to capture them right away when I started this painting, so by the time I got to them the sky had cleared. Lesson learned -- if there is something that really captures my attention, focus on that area first, the other areas can wait!


Potomac River Series XX
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Often I strive to paint two paintings when out, and I felt lucky that I was also able to get this one in. Because I had lost the clouds by now, I decided to zoom in on the shore some and to work on depicting trees and atmospheric haze.


Potomac River Series XXI - Old Town
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm)) – oil on gessoed paper}

We decided that moving into Old Town for our next plein air excursion would be a good idea, this way we can become comfortabel with including some buildings into our skill set. As all of these paintings are studies, I have decided if they really do not get off to a good start, or that at some point they veer off course, I will stop and start a new painting. This is what happened with this study, I realized that I was painting the house, not a painting, so I stopped and started another one.


Potomac River Series XXII - Old Town SOLD
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

This study is my second attempt at painting a street scene. At one point I nearly gave up and started a new painting, however my painting partner encouraged me to keep going and I am so happy she did, because I was able to finish a vignette of Old Town.

So far this week I have been out painting twice and will share the paintings with you tomorrow. I do not think I will be able to get out and paint outside again until next week...

Thanks for stopping by and reading :)

Liz

Plein Air Painting: Potomac River Series

Hello,

Time is flying by and I wanted to share with you the plein air studies completed last week. So far the comfort level of painting outside has been increasing and I am continuing to find ways to experiment and explore...


Potomac River Series XV
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm)) – oil on gessoed paper}

With this study my goal was to zero in on an area of the shoreline, working on defining the middle ground with the most information while minimizing the detail provided in the forground and background, creating a sense of distance using value and detail.


Potomac River Series XVI
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

It got a bit enamored with the two trees in the foreground, spending time on depicting the various vines and leaves that were growing on them.


Potomac River Series XVII
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

This study is double the area of all the previous studies, I was curious to work on this new size.

The sky was particularly beautiful when we got to the river's edge.


Potomac River Series XVIII
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Later in the morning the dazzling cloud formations and roses had left the sky, however this provided an opportunity to work on painting tree shapes and the reflections in the water.

Plein Air Painting: Potomac River Series

Hello,

Here are the paintings created during the third week of June.


Potomac River Series IX
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Even when being by the river different scenes will capture my attention, and the way the leaves glowed yellow in the morning sun was something I wanted to try to capture.


Potomac River Series X
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

We have had a lot of overcast and rainy days lately and a lot of my focus this week was on trying to capture the fleeting impressions of the sky. In Carlson's
book on landscape painting he encourages you to work from memory, and I think trying to paint the sky as the clouds are constantly changing is pretty close to painting from memory because you have to work from an impression that changes immediately, so if you want to keep the initial composition of how the clouds were, you are engaging your memory.


Potomac River Series XI
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Another sky study, with the clouds getting more threatening...


Potomac River Series XII
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

After the past few attempts of painting trees I decided to check out a few other landscape artists I admire and see how they block-in and paint trees, this study was incorporating a technique I read about in Kevin Macpherson's
book on page 58.


Potomac River Series XIII
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Another sky/cloud study.


Potomac River Series XIV
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Another sky/cloud study, sometimes I deliberately know what I am going after and try to achieve it, however with these two studies, I just wanted to experiment with shapes and edges.

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I thought you may be interested in seeing my setup when working outside at the picnic tables that are in the park areas along the Potomac.

This is the simple setup where I head out only with my cigar box pochade and other equipment, like brushes, turp jar, and paper towels. The square piece of card board has been shellaced so it can handle multiple applications of tape that attaches the sheets of gessoed watercolor paper.

Working in Plein Air: Potomac River Series

Hi,

Here are the plein air studies completed from last week. My goal is to get out and paint 3-4 times a week, last week I was able to go out three times, on Sunday I was out for an extended time so two studies were completed.

I also switched over to using gessoed watercolor paper as my painting surface, it is an easy surface to paint on because the cold pressed watercolor paper has a bit of a texture and the gesso provides a level of tooth for the paint to grab onto. Another benefit is that because I gessoed several sheets of paper, I feel free to explore and experiment with out concern about wasting a canvas panel or the need to wipe down the painting when it does not work out. With the gessoed paper I will have a timeline that records progress.


Potomac River Series V
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

With this study I was working on the gradation of the sky along with the atmospheric graying of the distant trees and shore.


Potomac River Series VI
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

When working in plein air I often block in my drawing using aliz. crimson, so sometimes the thinned red will peep through.

A few days before I headed out to paint the last two studies of the week I spent an afternoon reading through Marc Hanson's blog Painting My Way Through Life. Back in April 2009 Marc Hanson set a personal goal of completing four paintings a day en plein air for the entire month, that is for 30 straight days, he called it a "painting marathon".

I visited every blog post of that month and read about his experiences, it was so inspiring... I guess in a way I am trying to do something similar but a lot more open ended.


Potomac River Series VII
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Before beginning this study I had set a goal of trying to complete each within an hour, and I wanted to make sure my composition was more of a vignette, giving a specific impression of a scene that captured my attention.

I did not complete this in my time limit, however the play with fore, middle, and back ground was a good exercise.


Potomac River Series VII
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Learning to capture the big shapes and values is important to me, however I also need to spend time on developing the abilty to paint the smaller details like, rocks and such. So this study focused on the rocky edge of the Potomac.

I am was out painting this morning, the weather has returned to the normal temperatures DC is supposed to have during this time of year. It was a beautiful morning.

Thanks for stopping by, Liz

Working in Plein Air: Potomac River Series

Hello,

Now that I am in the home stretch of the pregnancy and my desire to keep painting until the very end has really kicked into over drive, I began a new project on the 1st of June. They say nesting starts to kick in around this time, however I have found that drive to paint is more predominant...

The project consists of simple plein air sketches along the Potomac river south of Old Town Alexandria. I live about a mile from the river's edge so for several mornings a week I have been heading out around sunrise to capture the moment. The goal is to get more comfortable with painting en plein air with a limited palette of aliz. crimson, cad. yellow pale, winsor green, ultramarine blue, and titanium white. Each painting is completed as quickly as possible {1/2 hr to 2 hrs} and most often has a specific paint handling/technique that I am trying to work through and get more adept at.

Here are the paintings from the first week of June:


Potomac River I
{6" x 8" (15.2 x 20.3 cm) – oil on canvas panel}

On the first day I was so motivated that I was up and in the car before sunrise, so by the time I got to the river's edge the sun had just begun to climb into the sky...


Potomac River II
{6" x 8" (15.2 x 20.3 cm) – oil on canvas panel}

With this painting the sun had already moved up pretty high into the sky and I wanted to focus on the gradiation of the sky and the soft edges of the trees on the other side of the river bank.


Potomac River III
{6" x 8" (15.2 x 20.3 cm) – oil on canvas panel}

This composition is a continuation on exploring soft edges and atmospheric haze while beginning to incorporate some foreground features.


Potomac River IV
{6" x 8" (15.2 x 20.3 cm) – oil on canvas panel}

On this morning the sky was threatening to open up on me at any moment, a few times I had several drops of water fall down upon me and the painting. Being a hazy, humid morning grays and atmospheric perspective became the main focus of this study.