My 9 Paintings From Monterey

The last three paintings are from Friday. I painted two of them at the Fisherman's Wharf in the morning. The last painting was at the Asilomar beach in the late afternoon. A busy day!

Plein Air Convention (Part 2)

Well, the convention is over! All that's left is for Friday's "paint-out" at the Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey.

I attended some really outstanding demonstrations (in particular the demos by watercolor artists Stewart White and Andy Evansen.

I attended the Marketing Boot Camp on Tuesday-Thursday mornings and I have to say it was really informative. I took some detailed notes and I'm already itching to put some of these ideas into practice.

Anyway, here are my two paintings from yesterday and today:

This one is from the group paint-out in Carmel on Wednesday. A big cloud of fog was rolling in and was blocking out the sun, but it broke through in some places and was really illuminating. I'm going to have to paint this one bigger.

This one is from the group paint-out today in Point Lobos. Man, it was crowded. It was so much quieter when I came here before the convention started on Monday. It was also really grey outside today. What a better way to practice mixing grey colors than on a grey day? This is from the same spot I painted at on Monday, looking slightly to the left of the previous grouping of rocks. 

One of the vendors present at the convention was Michael Harding's Oil Colours. I had heard great things about his paints, but I avoided buying them online since I never had the opportunity to see them in person first. I picked up a selection of series 1 paints to try out (they gave me a couple freebies too), and I have to say I'm really blown away. These are outstanding. The paint has a nice, buttery feel to it, but still has tons of body (They even had a huge mound of yellow and green paint on a palette at their booth, with a palette knife sticking out of each. The paint is so thick you can sculpt it. I should have taken a photo).

Of the paints that I purchased, the colors I have tried so far are Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, and Ultramarine. All four of those have left me really impressed. I"ll be putting the remaining colors on my palette tomorrow. 

Well, that's it for now. I'll be waking up early to paint at the Fisherman's Wharf tomorrow. I want to try and get 4 paintings tomorrow, since I'll have a full day. That will bring my total painting haul to 10. That would be a great way to cap off my trip!

Plein Air Convention (Part 1)

Hello from Monterey!

It's day two of the Plein Air Convention and I'm having a good time seeing demos and meeting great people. I'm also happy to post four new paintings.

I drove from Phoenix on Sunday with a car full of paints and blank linen panels (and a cooler full of Coke). I arrived late afternoon in Monterey, with just enough time left in the day to paint this:

I really like painting the streams of water running down the backside of the rocks. This was on Asilomar beach.

Day Two, Monday, was spent in Point Lobos. A lot of Plein Air painters were enjoying the sun and painting (the surplus of black flies, however, were not enjoyed).

My first painting of the day was at the last parking lot, by the trailhead for China Cove. What a beautiful place. The cove (not pictured) is an incredible green color. 

The second painting of the day was done in Whaler's Cove. There's tons of poison oak here, so you've got to be careful. These rock outcroppings really intrigued me. I'll be painting these again for sure. 

Tuesday the convention ended at 4 (I'm disappointed it is being cut short each day for people to paint. At $1000 for a ticket, I would like more demonstrations than last year... not fewer!) I drove to the Asilomar beaches and knocked this one out. The weather got really cold and a fog started coming in. Every now and then a hole would open up in the sky and the sun would shine down on the water like a spotlight. Very cool.

On these paintings I used my "chromatic palette", which consists of: Titanium White (Utrecht), Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Light, Crimson Lake (Holbein), Dioxazine Purple, Ultramarine, Viridian Hue (Holbein), Brilliant Green (Utrecht), Yellow Green (Utrecht). 

This palette is all about using compliments to neutralize, rather than earth colors or black. I feel like I have the most control of my colors, because I can make color shifts as subtle as I want. This is especially valuable in mixing greys.

The one exception to this palette is the fourth painting, of the overcast/grey seascape. I received a free tube of Cadmium Red Deep from Richeson at the convention, and I also purchased a few Michael Harding oils here (I've been wanting to try them out for a while now, and finally I got some). This painting had the addition of four colors: Cadmium Red Deep in place of Crimson Lake, and Michael Harding Ultramarine, Raw Umber, and Burnt Sienna. I normally avoid earth colors, but I decided to give them a shot on such a grey day. 

The Cadmium Red Deep was used when mixing with Viridian Hue. Cool reds and cool greens mixed together get neutral purples/blues, and you can bend the mixture more to the green or more to the red side. It's really great for painting the Pacific ocean. Cadmium Red Deep is lower in intensity than Crimson Lake, and a little warmer. The mixture with Viridian Hue is a bit more blue and less intense. Crimson+Viridian yields more intense colors, and the middle mixture tends to be very purple. For a painting filled with neutral tones, I went with Cadmium.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for more...

Making Your Own Belgian Linen Panels

The Plein Air Convention in Monterey is coming up soon, and I've found myself making more linen panels in preparation. Here's a simple tutorial for making your own.

Many companies make some great linen panels, but they're too expensive for me. While the initial cost of buying a full roll of linen can be steep, making your own panels will be much less expensive in the long run.

Materials:

-Claussen's Oil Primed Linen (I use the #12 style)
-MDF or Masonite boards, cut to size (Having a couple small sizes helps you minimize scraps)
-Matte Medium, Miracle Muck Glue, or Elmer's Glue
-Cheap bristle brush
-Soft Rubber Brayer (Speedball brand. Used for printmaking)
-Rubberized Cutting Mat
-Sandpaper
-X-Acto Knife
-Pencil
-Scissors


Begin by lightly sanding your wooden panels. I like to make sure the edges are cleaned up and any burs are removed. Run the sandpaper across the side to be glued as well, to provide better adhesion for the glue.

Next, lay your roll of linen out on the floor, primed side up. Place the panels on top, and trace all around with a pencil. Make a little bit of extra room all the way around (1/8 of an inch is plenty). Cut out with scissors.

Next, gather your brush, medium/glue, and brayer.

Brush a thin layer of glue all over the wood. It took me a dozen panels to find out the magic amout of glue to use. Too little glue and the linen won't stick. Too much glue and it oozes out the sides and makes a mess.

With the panel coated in glue, carefully place the unprimed side of the linen down on to the panel. Try to line it up correctly on the first try. If you peel it up you will have to put down some more glue.

Take the brayer and firmly press down, rolling from the center outwards. Make sure to really get the edges to stick down. If you don't use enough glue and pressure the edges have a habit of peeling away from the board.

Flip your panel upside-down and inspect the edge. Make sure the linen is not peeling up anywhere.

Notice a little seam of glue on the edge. The panel below has just the right amount of glue. The edges will stick down well. Too much glue will ooze out and make a big mess on your working surface (and potentially get on the primed side of your linen panels!)

Take all of your panels at this stage and stack the like-sizes together. Place a couple heavy books on each stack. Let this sit overnight to dry.

Once the panels have dried, take your rubberized cutting mat and an X-Acto knife. Place the panel upside down on the cutting mat. With firm pressure and using the edge of the wood panel as a guide, cut away all the extra linen.

Panels can sometimes warp very slightly, because the linen can shrink as it dries. If this happens, place the panels face-to-face and leave underneath a couple heavy books for a few days. Time is better than pressure when it comes to de-warping wood.

After trimming off the extra linen, inspect each panel. If you have an edge or corner peel up because you didn't use enough glue, it's ok! Peel the corner back just a little bit, and put on some extra glue with a small brush or palette knife. Run the brayer over the trouble spot a couple more times until it really sticks down. Leave the panel under a book for another day.

 And there you have it. Hopefully this little tutorial can help you make some nice panels. Happy painting!

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.