Plein Air
Plein Air Painting in the spring is something I absolutely love. It is so very vibrant with the brightest greens and so many colorful flowers. I want to share a plein air piece that I entered last year at the plein air booth contest in “Art on the Green in Coeur d’Alene, ID“. This piece won 3rd place. It is entitled, “Beauty After Fire H1224”, a watercolor on 140lb wc paper showing a vibrant forest scene coming back to life after a wildfire.
Here is a picture I took of the sky right when I started. It was a beautiful sky full of life. I was sitting where we just finished rebuilding our house after the wildfire of 2023 (Oregon Road Wildfire), and, these are the only patch of trees that remain. They looked so happy and I was so glad they were there. I thought I’d go ahead and put those tall standing giants on paper with their great backdrop. The biggest challenge for me was doing that dramatic sky first.
This second picture is what it looked like at the at the end of that first afternoon. I returned the next day, but of course the sky was not anywhere near the same so a lot of the view from there was more from my head than my eyes seeing it. I added the red’s in the sky after I had put orange in the bare clay dirt at the tree bases. It really warmed things up, yay!
Today taking a look outside, the bug has really got me and I am wanting to get out there and paint, hope to see you out there too!
Join us at the Art Reception
The architectural parts of this old beauty of a school, were a bit of a challenge to sort through. What details to drop an which to keep, so that the painting could be done in a reasonable amount of time. Making a texture that would accurately show the brick took a little bit of trail and error.
We have pretty much just concentrated on rebuilding for this whole year. Actually it has been one year and four months since the Oregon Road Wildfire changed so many lives here in Elk WA. This is a picture of me and Max helping Pete to lay boulders down where the roof sheds snow. Erosion control.
We were able to do some ranch land plein air painting near Hauser Lake on Saturday afternoon. We had a good time. All enjoyed the view from Sue’s house and pasture lands. There was abundant pasture, livestock, tractors, and heavily wooded hills to choose from.
I began by walking down to right next to the creek. After setting up for a little while in the direct sun I found that I did not have the stamina to continue kneeling next to the log. A conversation with my knees cut it short to rescue my knee joints and escape the heat.
Next, I set up in the comfort of her upper deck and just fell in love with the way the light was on her trees.
I keep adding greens to the background till I get the effect I want.
To make the rich color of the petal centers, a deep red purple is dropped in on wet surfaces and extra is brushed off with a dry brush. The line details at the middle of the petal are carefully drawn in on dry paper. A drop of yellow brings that bump out. Browns are washed over the background last.
Black and White
Large Area Wash
You can see the yellow petals painted carefully with lemon yellow and reserved light areas. While still wet, I drop in a mixture of orange, alizarin crimson, and cerulean blue if needed for shadow. It is a fun way to get the paint to do the work. I can always use a dried brush tip to lift off any excess paint in the wet area. The leaves in the background on the left are painted the same way.
I had my first plein air paint out with
Thomas Lake Bird Refuge in Northern ID is beautiful. Full of forest shores, lilypnds floating and wetland grasses and lots and lots of birds. Egret, eagle, hawk, duck, geese and much more.
A Bucket of Berries is the subject of my next watercolor. While looking through pictures taken in the garden last year I ran across this photograph. A bucket of blackberries and strawberries turned on its side on the dining table. Every morning I pick the berries that are ripe in the garden. They are so very colorful and juicy. The photo just looks yummy to me. The berries are coming back to life in the garden and do not seem to mind the fire at all.
Next more light washes sort out the blackberries from the strawberries and the tabletop gets a light shade in front.
The darkest surfaces are carefully painted while saving the highlights on their shiny surfaces.
The blackberries are rendered one-by-one on the left side as they lay on the table. It is a gradual berry-by-berry painting, with darkening on the bucket parts to give us a hint of the depths. The darkest shadows on the berries are painted, and with a little water added the bright medium shades are applied. If you are careful enough, the saved highlight will show well.