Plein Air Painter

                                                     

       How I love painting on site.

A Little Cabin, Merrie Woods

There's nothing like capturing that moment in time.

People walk by and inform the painter of information....the wind blows and and the weather sets the tone for atmosphere....birds and animals create peripheral sound...it all works to make a great painting.


These little cabins were painted at Camp Merrie Woods, near Cashiers, NC.  It was a wonderful location and the campers all added their editorials.  They were delightful.  Please check out my website at www.catherinehillis.com for more information about my future plein air painting competitions.  And, come on by and see me!

Cabin at Camp Merrie Woods

Artists, Grow a Thick Skin

August 1, 2014

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Mt. Ida, Watercolor, Ellicott City, MD

This summer has been full of plein air painting in contests for me.

I apply for plein air competitions across the country – some of which I am invited to and some which I am not.  It’s both costly and time consuming – I must mark time off of my calendar while I wait to hear from these organizations.  I cannot schedule classes or workshops during these times and, time is money to a working artist.

I also compete regularly in national watermedia competitions.  The paintings that I select to compete are held off the market for months and sometimes years while I’m waiting to hear whether the pieces are selected.  The fees are outrageous and the shipping and handling costs for paintings which get into these contests are getting higher all the time.  One can always hope for an award to cover costs...which happens sometimes.

If you’re an artist and you want to work as a professional, one of the first requirements is a very thick skin. One must also have a sense of adventure, along with patience, tenacity and tremendous desire to succeed, but a thick skin keeps one sane.  Talent is, of course, an unstated prerequisite here.  And always remember:  there are many, many talented artists in this world of ours. 

Judging is a subjective process and if your painting is a good one, believe in it and believe in yourself.  While one judge may not select me to compete in a plein air contest, the next one may select me and present me with an award.  If I don’t try, how will I know whether I’m ready for competition?  And, if I don’t try and permit myself a few failures, how will I improve?  The professional must place herself right in the midst of competition and into the market in order to grow and succeed.  Placing oneself in the middle of the “heat” is the only way to learn.

But, grow a thick skin and don’t seek applause from your fellow artists.   Validation must come from within.  You must know passionately that you are doing what you're created to do.

Captain's Hat, Watercolor, Cashiers, NC

                                          

Milan and Lake Garda, Italy and Inspiration in General

Inspiration.  Where does it come from?

For me, travel is one of the keys to inspiration, which then leads me to creative thinking, and ending, hopefully, with an excellent painting.

Scenes of Gargnano, Italy along Lake Garda

I love teaching workshops in locations foreign to me.  It's tremendous fun to see new sights and be inspired.  Some sights compel me to paint them immediately...perhaps because of the lighting or the smells or some sort of interaction I'm experiencing at the time.  Other sights want to be photographed... in many ways.  I can spend quite a large amount of time walking around a location, taking hundreds of different photos from different angles.  In fact, one of my favorite methods for taking pictures now is to hold my camera in front of me, constantly change my angles, and shoot away.  I can often be surprised by the beauty of these random photographs.

I was able to sneak in a tour of Berlin after the workshop this year, and I took many photos of the Reichhstaag, which is one of my favorite buildings in the world.

The very nature of the building and the many reflective surfaces lend itself to painting.....I love the natural abstraction of the angles.  Whenever discussing design in class, I advise students to "make it irregular, make it oblique and make it unpredictable."  This building exemplifies some of those major adages of good design.

 As enjoyable as it is to BE inspired, it's just as energizing to me to observe students in the midst of enjoying bursts of creativity.  I must say, my students who took the Il' Chiostro Watercolor Workshop with me during early October of 2013 made great strides forward in technique.  I like to think it was the teaching; I'm just as sure it was the inspiration of the location.  So, get thee to an inspiring location....and then, remember some design advice:  keep images irregular; use oblique lines whenever you can; and stray away from predictability in form and shape.

Happy Painting!  Catherine Hillis   www.catherinehillis.com

My Palette

I may be changing my palette.

I love the quinacridone colors, but now that it's summer, I'm not sure that the intense tones of the quin colors are meeting my needs.  My plein air paintings need more subtle color.  I may be adding earth tones to my palette.

I've pulled out the sepias, the raw siennas, the umbers.....and they look very enticing.  I think I'll add them to my summer plein air painting as well as to my studio work.  I've just completed a commission of hydrangeas and I did need some of the earth tones to complete it.  I'll be painting in several plein air competitions and hope to be using some of these warm colors to mix my greens.

I always use a round or square palette that has nice sized indentations on all four sides for holding paint.  I like to arrange my colors in the order of the color wheel.  It's pragmatic.  It's logical.  It makes sense.  When I'm mixing my grays and blacks, I don't even have to think, because my complements are already across from each other.

I'll let you know how adding the earth tones to my palette work....I"m guessing my color mixes will be more subtle and richer.