New Studio Work and Plein Air piece

Here's a quick shot of what's currently on my easel. Since taking the photo, I painted a little more reflected light in the big central rock, and I did some light glazing on the cactus spines (brightest spots). I think this one's ready for a frame.

It's a poor photo taken with my phone, but it'll have to do until the painting is dry and I use my camera.

24x30 inches.

Last up is a quick plein air piece I painted in Papago Park. I wanted to study the reflected light in these rocks. Papago has a lot of interesting rock formations. I'd really recommend painting there if you are ever in the Tempe/Scottsdale area.

This was also a good lesson in blurring/muting the background landscape in order to make the foreground rocks come forward.

9x12 inches, oil on belgian linen.

Plein Air Events (Part 2)

This post is about a Plein Air event in Casa Grande, Arizona, which I participated in back in February.

After getting three 9x12 panels stamped, I made my way down to Florence st, where a lot of small family-owned shops are located.

As I was setting up to paint, the local shop owners started to arrive to open up their stores for Saturday business. One shop owner came out to sweep her front walkway, other owners shouted greetings from across the street, waved, or said good morning. Each owner put out an American flag on the edge of the walkway. It was almost surreal, in a way. I thought this kind of America was long gone, eaten up by the large corporations.

Here's the first painting I did that day, clad in a really cheap frame ($6 from Jerry's, if I remember right). The roof was totally in shadow when I started painting, but I had hoped that as the sun would rise it would highlight the edges. It really gave the architecture some extra definition.

After finishing and framing the first painting. I went down the walkway a little bit. I actually painted at the far end of that strip of shops, right about at where the smaller figure's collar is.

The street has a lot of neat looking bronze lampposts, and I wanted to paint one. I also found a potted plant on the curb, which had some great cast shadows (and some reflected light on the shadowed side of the pot). This was my favorite painting of the day. It's pictured here, still in my Guerrilla Painter box.

After a beer over at Native New Yorker, the judging was over. I was really happy to win Best of Show and the $1000 purchase award for my street scene. Prize aside, I had a great time painting in some of the best weather Arizona has to offer. I enjoyed chatting with the local shop owners and passers-by. All in all it was a great day.

Plein Air at the Grand Canyon (and one in Flagstaff)

Just got back from a quick day trip to the Grand Canyon. I painted two pieces on location, both are 9x12 inches.

I've been using a new palette, as well. I figure I'll mention it beforehand. I chose these colors based on mixing compliments to neutralize, rather than using earth tones...

Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Light
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Scarlet
Crimson Lake (Holbein brand. Alizarin Crimson would work the same)
Dioxazine Purple
Ultramarine Blue Deep (Holbein)
Cobalt Blue
Viridian Hue (Holbein brand. It's a lot stronger than regular Viridian, since it's made with Phthalo Green)
Brilliant Green (Utrecht)
Yellow Green (Utrecht)

I don't normally carry really vibrant greens on my palette; in fact Viridian is typically the only green I use. But lately I have been discovering how useful it is to have a selection of really vibrant greens. It's always easy to knock the intensity back with the oranges, reds and violets on the palette. It's also really convenient to add touches of the vibrant green to a mixture, in order to slowly bring it up in intensity.

With trees especially, I like making them much greyer than I have to, and then selectively brighten areas. It's very easy to bump a color's saturation when you have a nuclear-strength green available. The key is to never use those greens on their own though, because otherwise your painting will look like a golf course in a cartoon. The same could be said of any other vibrant color, I suppose.

Anyway, on with the show. First up was on the south rim, looking southeast. This is my favorite of the two. I was able to spend a little more time on it. I found a quiet ledge away from the tourists and painted away.

The next one was painted partway down the Bright Angel Trail. This one was a little rushed, and I wish I could have spent another hour on it. The sun was sinking, though, and we had to hike back and drive back to Flagstaff before dark.

My main goal with the second one was to study the value difference between the nearest cliff (in shadow), and the very light, distant cliffs.

Lastly we have a painting I knocked out yesterday after a couple mile hike outside of Flagstaff. Sadly there is no snow to be found outside of Humphrey's peak. I took this photo with my phone, so the quality is not the same as the others. 

Plein Air Events (part one)

Once again I've been neglecting my blog. But regardless of the lack of posts, I have been painting like crazy! In addition to some new studio paintings (which I will share in a future post) I have been doing a lot of plein air painting.

First up is the Plein Air Competition hosted by the City of Glendale, Arizona. The event was held Feb 8th as part of their Chocolate Affaire Festival.

Check-in was at 8am and I got three of my blank linen panels stamped on the back (I make my own panels with Claussen's oil primed linen. I have a tutorial planned for those too).

Downtown Glendale has a lot of century-old bungalows, many of which have been converted into small shops. My first painting of the day was of a blue house (I think the shop was called the Blue House Botique?).

When I set up to paint this, I noticed that my jar of thinner had leaked all through my backpack. There was just a little bit of "sludge" left at the bottom of the can. So, I had to paint this one without cleaning my brushes. I had to make sure to save a couple clean brushes to use for white later. Good thing I brought plenty of brushes!

After knocking out this painting I drove back home to Tempe. I refilled my thinner container, and I decided to stop by the art store to pick up a new display easel and a couple frames. I hurried back to Glendale...

I picked up a root beer float at Papa Ed's Ice Cream, and as I ate it in their garden I noticed an old wooden door leaning up against a tree. There were some nice cast shadows on it from a tree, and I asked for permission to paint there.

The great thing about painting outdoors, especially in public places, is that people are curious and like to watch. Especially kids. I would ask all of them if they were artists, and most kids reply with a definite "yes!". I had a great time. Hopefully some of the onlookers were inspired to create something.

I framed both paintings and took them back for the judging. I was really happy to win second place with my door painting. It also consisted of a $500 purchase award! Not too shabby!

All in all it was a great Saturday, despite the trouble with my container of paint thinner. Hard work pays off!

Coming up in part two: Plein Air in Casa Grande (And a "Best in Show" award)

Canyon Study

I think this study might make a good large painting. From the Tortilla Trail in the Superstition mountains. About 5 or 10 miles past Canyon Lake.

"Canyon Guardians" Oil on linen panel, 12x12 inches

Sedona and an Injured Prickly Pear

"Spring Shadows" oil on canvas, 16x20 inches

"Untitled" oil on linen, 12x18 inches

Lots of Plein Air

It's been a while since I have posted on here. Fortunately I have been painting the whole time.

Back in April I went to the Plein Air painting convention in Monterey. It was worth every penny. I made a road trip out of it, learned a ton, and did some painting on the coast. After the convention I drove up to San Francisco to check out Academy of Art University (Big mistake, they were extremely rude and unwelcoming), and on the way back to Phoenix I swung by Pasadena on a whim to check out Art Center College of Design. They were awesome, gave me a tour, plenty of pamphlets, and answered all of my questions. That's the way a school should be run (Take note, Academy of Art)

Anyway, about the convention. I got to meet James Gurney, which was really great. He signed both of my copies of "Color and Light" and "Imaginative Realism". Such a great person. All of the presenters were very good, some more outstanding than others. Scott Christensen, Ken Auster, Gil Dellinger, and Ray Roberts were among my favorites.

Here's a few of the paintings I did during/after the convention. They're all 9x12 on homemade linen panels (I'll be doing a tutorial on making panels at some point in the future).

I went on a hiking trip to the pines in northern Arizona last month (Strawberry, Pine, and a hike down to the waterfall in Fossil Creek), and came back with another half-dozen paintings. 9x12 oil-primed linen panels again, with the exception of the sunset which is 6x8.

 This was my first painting up in Strawberry. I'm not used to painting so much green, so this was a good lesson in forcing myself to keep greens muted. It's much easier to brighten up a green than to dull it down!

 There were scattered clouds, and I liked the way the sun would break through on this hill.

 A quick study about a mile in a hiking trail in Pine, AZ. I liked the way the warm reflected light hit that log. I had to cut this painting short because a big thunderstorm was rolling in, and we needed to get back to the car in time.

Got back to the bed and breakfast shortly after painting the log. This one was my first time actually painting in a storm. The summer monsoons in Arizona are something else.

 Later that evening we got a really nice sunset. This one was a race against the clock, but I think I got a decent painting out of it.

This was painted during my last morning there. I toned the panel with a slightly yellow grey, to capture the golden morning light. I don't like the composition of this piece.

That's it for now. More to come!