Plein Air

House on the Lake, Loudoun County, VA

Folks ask me:  what's plein air?

During warm weather, my heart, mind and soul look only towards painting outdoors.

Plein air means....in the fresh air.  The French Impressionists did their share of painting in the fresh air and today there are more and more competitions across America where 20 - 30 professional painters are selected, by a judge,  to compete during a week of outdoor painting in a specific location.  The week culminates in well advertised sales events where collectors are invited to purchase.  And the collectors of plein air paintings are certainly out there. Prizes are awarded.  Photographs are taken. Magazine articles are written.

Professional artists who participate in these events are honored to be selected for an event.  It's wonderful to be chosen by a judge who probably has many registered artists to select from.  Artists are often housed with a host family, who try to make their adopted artiste comfortable when they're painting in their town.  Working outdoors - all day -  is not easy.  Artists are expected to come up with a specified number of framed and finished pieces for the sales events.  There's a good bit of pressure involved in finishing up, and finishing up WELL.  It can be oppressively hot, or rainy/ paintings may dry too quickly or not fast enough/ they may not turn out as well as expected/ chatty pedestrians can break concentration/ things fall/ wind blows/ hunger calls or even worse....

Collectors of art.....we thank you for your belief in our work and your love of what we do.  It's collectors who help the artist continue to think and paint and create.

Renew, Refresh, Revitalize

While I am preparing for the Western Loudoun Studio Tour  (www.wlast.org) this weekend, I'm also taking these weeks to walk more, meditate more, exercise, breathe in the summer honeysuckle, watch my nearby creek tumble along, battle birds stealing applies from  my trees,  sketch, photograph, paint outdoors (just for myself and no one else)  and garden a little.  I need to go into that private place where I go when I'm painting. I need some refreshing....badly.  I believe I have been suffering from exhaustion....and now for some renewal....

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.

Wet on Wet: Paint it Fast and Paint it Loose

My final classes before summer of 2013 are coming to an end.

I'm demonstrating some fun, fast and loose wet on wet demonstrations in all classes until the end of May.  It's a great warm up for painting outdoors.  I love wetting the paper, and placing that pigment onto the damp cotton and seeing what will happen.  I love it when the colors fuse together and make something rather unexpected.  I love the soft edges that occur, and then the hard edges that develop as the paper dries.
I enjoy seeing the different values that melt into one another throughout the process.  The speed with which I can paint in the wet on wet technique is a lot of fun, too.

Here's a painting of Cole's Farm....done in about 45 minutes.

Rehoboth Beach Art League and Keeping An Open Mind

I taught a much anticipated Watercolor Bootcamp workshop in Rehoboth, Delaware for the Rehoboth Beach Art League.  I was eager to spend the day before my workshop at the beach, enjoying some sunshine and bathing. Sadly, the weather did not cooperate  .... I brought my swimsuit, but I needed to have packed a coat.  The beach was windy and cold and it wasn't even comfortable to walk along the boardwalk.

I thought I'd be shopping for some photographs of water scenes for future paintings, but I ended up staying indoors more than I had imagined.

But, I had an open mind,  never knowing what I might encounter.


It turns out that the Rehoboth Art League lodges "Artists in Residence" at "The Homestead," which is one of the oldest houses in all of Delaware.  This historic 18c. home  is one of the many beautiful buildings that belong to the Rehoboth Art League.  I thought I would have the opportunity to collect some photographs of beach scenes to paint; instead, I was gifted with moody interior scenes that only a delightful old house can provide.....

These photos will make some dramatic watercolor interiors.  The backyard of "The Homestead"  is graced with a magnificent boxwood garden, along with statuary, elegant specimen trees, fountains, benches and gazebos. I'm still editing through the photographs of the extraoridnary gardens.



An artist should always keep an open mind; we never know what direction we may be"nudged" towards next...

Beware of Ticks, Painters

Last year I contracted Lyme's Disease while painting en plein air.

I neglected to wear bug spray; I was walking in weedy fields and the woods; I wore shorts and loose fitting tops. I didn't shower as soon as I left the field.   I did everything wrong.

After my first day of painting, I was covered in insect bites....so, I bought some insect repellant but....it was apparently too late.  I painted for five days during this contest in Pennsylvania and by the next weekend, when I arrived home, I was feeling tired and drained of all energy.  I had one particularly red insect bite in the very middle of my back which I kept watching throughout the following week.  All other mosquito and gnat bites disappeared, but  this bite remained red and angry.

Meanwhile, I was feeling just awful.  I would wake up in the morning around 7 am, and nap again at 10 am.  I'd fall asleep again at 2 pm and then sleep all night.  I felt achy.  I had headaches.  I was dragging myself to teach my classes.....as time progressed, I began to feel incredibly ill.

I was almost grateful when, at the end of that second week, a pale red "bull's eye" rash formed around that one insect bite in the very middle of the back.

Now, I knew what was making me sick.  I had Lyme's Disease.  This was readily confirmed by blood tests and my physician, and I was immediately placed on a round of antibiotics.

So, painters!  Watch yourself and take all precautions you can and read up about Lyme's Disease.  I now wear long pants with socks tucked over them and I spray my clothing with spray containing DEET.  I tend to paint along the road, instead of in the weeds.  I shower immediately after finishing,

and I check my body for those nasty little creatures. 

Happy painting, everyone,  and take care of yourself out there in the field.....

The Washington Capitol in Early Spring (c) contact artist for information

Hmmm.....I've got twenty yards of mulch sitting in my driveway.  My gardens desperately need to be fertilized, trimmed and mulched.  Thank goodness I've got help for this project.  It feels great to have my lovely flower gardens cared for.

While the very competent workers edge the beds and spread the mulch, I paint.  I finished this watercolor today of the Washington Capitol in Early Spring. 

20 Yards of Mulch, Spring, 2013