Tag: painting

Ranch Land Plein Air

Sues RAnchWe 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.

Hauser Ranch CreekI 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.

Trees off of the deckNext, I set up in the comfort of her upper deck and just fell in love with the way the light was on her trees.

People from the Inland Northwest Outdoor Painting Group were invited. Others were there from the Spokane Watercolors Member Group (must be a member) and the Spokane Sketchers too. If you would like to know, when the next plein air event date is set, please check out the Inland Northwest Outdoor Painting Group mentioned above.

Visiting with the other artists there was a lot of fun. Everyone getting together at the end of the day to do a little show-and-tell was inspiring. There were so many gorgeous views I had to take a lot of photographs to work on later. The other artists were doing the same.

All-in-all it was a great way to spend my Saturday. The next event is Rimrock View Palisades Park, Spokane next Saturday.

 

Surprise Treasure

Kylie's Bluebird DayWe received a surprise treasure in the mail today. It is a perfect rendering of a magnificent ‘BLUEBIRD DAY OF SKIING” at 49 Degrees North Ski Resort in Chewelah last year. Kylie, you are an amazing artist, thank you! I look forward to more art by you, especially in this subject.

Pete and I had the privilege of teaching our granddaughters to ski years ago on this same hill. Many years have passed and both of these great girls have families of their own now. They are some of the dearest individuals in our lives.

Last year, we had the triple privilege of helping to teach Nick, Jace, and Kylie skiing fundamentals. Can you believe it, grandson, and great-grandkids? We were able to ski with all four of them while we enjoyed some of the most beautiful days up on that hill last year. It ain’t easy to learn how to ski but it is truly worth the effort. It is unexpressible to try and describe the happiness that they all had. Pete and I always have loved to ski.

“Ski Bums” and proud of it. We are addicts, that is all there is to it.  Any day of skiing beats almost anything else out in winter. We are aging and sometimes the aches and pains get our attention in the evenings, but that does not take the joy away that skiing down pristine winter landscapes gives us. The views, endless gorgeous skyline, crisp wind in the face, and the butterflies fluttering in your belly as you challenge yourself coming down the slope. The absolute best fun you can have without having to worry about having bail money handy.

Sarah, you still ski like a dream. Thank you for including us in your family outings, we love sharing this fun with you.

Different Approaches to White Heron

Great White Heron photograph
Great White Heron photograph by
Elise Beattie.

Challenge

Finding different approaches to painting this beautiful Great White Heron is what our Fearless Painting class guru, Elise Beattie, has challenged us over the weekend. This is some beautiful photography Elise Beattie!

If we choose to accept this assignment…. this challenge will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

Great White Heron Pen & Ink
Great White Heron Pen & Ink

Initially, I do a quick black and white study in my sketchbook with a gel pen (nothing special).

sketch Great White Heron
sketch of Great White Heron for a watercolor

I scrounge around in the studio to find a leftover piece of watercolor paper from a project to work on. This simply means there is a surprise ink drawing on the back of the sheet for anyone purchasing the image. Kind of a two-for-one prize for the art collector, you know. I decided on a much closer view for this Heron rendering in watercolor. The dimensions are taken off of my B&W sketch.

Proportional Divider
Drafting Proportional Divider

When I want accuracy, I have to grease those crazy artist mind gears. I break out a tool from the old drafting days that will ensure correct results twice as big on the watercolor paper. The tool I use is called a “Precision Deluxe Proportional Divider”  (made in Germany).

Would you like a tutorial about how to use this tool in another post on this blog? Leave me a comment if you do. It is unlikely that anyone is dying to learn how to do this though.

Proportional Divider in German
Prop Divider instructions in German

On the instruction sheet, there are some really useful instructions in German on the flip side, just in case you were wondering. How is your German? Mine is terrible.

I do anticipate making a third layout today using a different approach with acrylics on a canvas board, but I haven’t gotten there yet. First, I need to finish my piano practice.

Painting at Riverfront

clock tower reference photo
clock tower

Plein Air Off the Beaten Path

Spent the afternoon (Friday) Plein air painting at Riverfront Park in Spokane WA. Painting outside in a beautiful park with friends. We were a group from the Spokane Watercolor Society who met near the clock tower at high noon. Sounds like the meet-up at the OK corral doesn’t it?  It is amazing how many people use this park, it was full of people. They were a constant stream of people running, walking dogs, sitting, and admiring the scenery.

I was able to discover a great view of the tower a little off the beaten path, and overhead. It was truly sublime. Initially, trying to render that clock tower in an impressionistic manner proved impossible. Paintbrush sketches produced awkward, leaning towers. There are so many angles and doo-dads on that riverside brick tower with a clock. As a result, another tactic was required. Architectural subjects need accuracy, don’t they? Finally, resorting to using the old artist pencil measure trick with an outstretched arm, got the job done.  It was worth it to take the time to do that sketch. The layout is in pencil now, and ready to work on in the studio. I took a ton of photos, to be able to finish it up.

clock tower above sketch
clock tower sketch

Second Painting Location

pavilion reference photo
pavilion willow photo
pavilion willow
pavilion with willow

I joined the gang from SWS at the ground level down by the river next. Next to Gay W. Finding a great view of the pavilion cables over the ice rink, that had a willow tree getting orange branches in spring. What a vision. Hope it comes out, cause it was quite a cool view. Luckily, I was able to get some washes down before I had to pack up and leave.

Artist Thoughts…

Unfortunately, there was a man playing the bongos next to the river. I kept thinking, he needs to get some other musicians to sing and play instruments with him to break up the monotony. The “bong, bong, bong” started to get on my nerves later in the afternoon, so, I cut the outing short.

While spending the day in that beautiful riverside park I noticed a sad thing. There were couples and friends sitting or walking together, not looking at each other or the view, but instead looking at their phones.

What is with that?

Going to a beautiful park, to walk and sit next to the river with beautiful waterfalls cascading all around. Then choosing to enter into oblivion? Are we loosing our humanity by getting together, to ignore each other and nature’s beauty around us?

As a society, are we so addicted to “blue screen” time that we miss important things?

In conclusion, this Friday painting day outside in the warm air was a beautiful nature wonderful “artist date”!

Big Painting

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This is a big painting on a long wall 40’-0” wide by 10’-0” high (400 sq ft) at 49 Degrees North Ski Resort in Chewelah WA. There are columns, a doorway along a storage cabinet to avoid. Some planning and adjustment to accommodate the obstacles are required. As explained in the previous post, I am following a basic chalk layout drawn on the wall. I will paint any electrical conduit encountered to try and achieve a synonymous feel across the image.

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Obstacles

Obstacles are real. I sometimes have to modify curves after I step back and see they are not matching up. You actually lose sight enough by the column to think you have it right till you get down and step back. Take a look on the right side of the column where the chalk line is a little off. I guess if I stayed within the lines I’d have fewer of these types of adjustments to make but I do tend to get a little free arm swinging when painting large and I absolutely love it.

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Progressing over the doorway and around the fire alarm, the mountains appear in the distance on the wall. Sometimes it seems hard to make the image stay continuous when divided by columns and other things but, I find that I simply ignore them. If I paint as if those items are not there, the image feels uninterrupted.

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The next two sections of the wall have their backgrounds laid in going towards the last wall corner. You can see how the lines need to read across the columns. When I reach the cabinet in the corner the background stops at the side, continuing over only the top of it.

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WALL “C” is 12’-0” wide by 10’-0” high (120 sq ft) which is the area where the cash register is manned. At the end of the day, the last wall’s background is laid in here but not yet complete.

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