Value of Painting on Location..."Plein air painting"

I was looking back over my sketchbook for a trip in the Fall of 2011 that my husband Marty and I took to New England to explore the turning of the leaves. Over the next few posts, I would like to share some of those with you.  

I am realizing that I get most inspired to draw, paint and take photographs when I go on trips. That may be because I do not want my time away from home to end. When I look back at my photographs and paintings from trips, I feel excitement all over again like I am being transported back to the most memorable moments. And, I find myself telling stories about that moment in time...how I felt, what I did, what I most wanted to capture. 

Marty and I started our exploration along the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts. We were in a rental Yukon SUV and we were determined to find something to sketch & paint despite the rainy, cold weather. We came across the Hall Tavern Farm near Shelbourne. We stopped on the opposite side of the road from it and put all of our watercolor paints, water and brushes in the middle of us on the console. We started to paint with the car running, heater on, and windshield wipers going at full speed. The scene kept changing because of heavy, low clouds sometimes hiding parts of the buildings from our view. But, it was so challenging and so much fun! 
About midway into our time there, a man pulled alongside of us and stopped to study us. He could not imagine what we were doing! We smiled at him and kept on painting. I am sure he thought we were crazy and pulled off and continued on his way! 



This is the painting that I completed in about one hour. I believe I captured the feel of the heaviness of the clouds. 

This was Marty's very first plein air painting adventure. He will not allow me to show his work but I was impressed! He was hooked and continues to join me as I paint on location here at home and on our trips. What a blessing that is to us both!

Back in Touch!

It has been quite a while since I adding any posts to this blog. It has not meant that I have been away from artistic endeavors. Very much the opposite. 

Since my last posting on the paintings on sites important to me in Covington, I have been fortunate enough to have sold those two paintings in juried art shows in this area and sold another one named, "A Walk in the French Quarter". 

Here below is the stage of underpainting and then completion. 

 

What was really interesting about this sale was that a family was in from California for the Christmas holidays. They were looking for a special gift for a relative who will be turning 60 in the late 2014. They heard her admire this painting and the family decided to buy it and hold it until her birthday! The same family bought the larger Covington painting. All done on New Years Eve! Great way to end 2013!

Three Pelicans

"Three Pelicans"

Original Watercolor

40" x 26"

This painting was inspired by a special trip to the Wildlife Sanctuary in Pensacola, Florida, in the early Spring of 2010.  My dear artist friend Paula Payne worked there and she gave me a close encounter with the wildlife.  I was truly impressed by not only the facility but the caring people who worked there to help heal injured wildlife.  I took some great photos of pelicans when I was there.  A couple of months later, the horrible oil spill on the Gulf Coast occurred.  Besides the tragic loss of life of the men who died as a result of the oil rig catastrophe, the images of the oil-soaked wildlife being rescued really upset me.   I revisited the images I had of the pelicans and started to work with them with the help of my art imaging program Adobe Photoshop.  I overlapped and edited the images until I had the view I thought most showed the haunting look from the birds.  I wanted the pelicans to plead with their eyes for help to protect them.  

This painting is a favorite of mine and my husband Marty.  It hangs above our fireplace mantle in our great room.  I have sold quite a few high quality giclees of it (limited edition of 150). 

The first photo is the middle stage of the painting.  The second one is the completed painting.