The Flower Seller, plein air oil painting

 

 

 

The Flower Seller

 

 

I've survived my second two-day paint-out, though it took a few naps after the day. Saturday's location was downtown Hillsboro. I walked around the area for quite awhile, taking lots of photos and assessing the area near the courthouse and the farmers market and finally decided to combine elements from two Vietnamese flower seller booths. The day was gray and rainy so I chose a spot under cover of a building overhang and set up my easel. The first step was to make some compositon/value sketches. Once that was done I sketched in the basic design using a brush and thinned blue paint, laid out my colors and started painting.

The painters and interested public were invited to the Walters Cultural Center for a mid-afternoon party on the lawn with live music, food, and wine tasting while the juror decided on awards. No, I didn't take home a ribbon this year, but I did win a large drying box and some panels from RayMar so I was a happy camper. Having this 12 x 16 panel box will enable me to work on larger oils in the field by giving me a safe way to carry the work home.  My work will be shown along with others during August at the Center.

I didn't photograph the painting I did Friday but as soon as I can do so I'll post it for you to see.

I'm happy with both paintings, and even more with myself because I gathered the courage to step up to the challenge of painting in a rather new-to-me medium in public alongside lots of people who do this on a regular basis. Everyone was kind and I hope to paint with a plein air group again.

Hillsboro Plein Air Paintout in Jackson Bottom

Today was the first of two days of the annual plein air paintout in Hillsboro and I decided to pack up my oils and participate. After checking in and having the back of my boards stamped I drove to the refuge and set up with a wide open skies viewpoint and commenced to paint what I saw. I like the work I did but it isn't a winner, just practice with a deadline, thank you, Randall. 

My daughter arrived with her three youngest and Sarah, who's nearly 11, wanted to try her hand at painting with oil. she took to it like a duck to water and finished a very sweet little painting that's mostly sky. One concept she picked all up by herself is that she can look at what's in front of her and paint that rather than what's in her head.

I'll be painting again tomorrow in downtown Hillsboro, first at the 'Fast Draw" at the Walters Art Center, and then I'll set up downtown and tackle an urban scene. Painting commences at 9 am, and Fast Draw is at 10. We turn in our work for jurying at 2:30 at the Walters Center.   The Farmers Market is Saturday so the town will be hopping with activity, what with all the artists and farmers around. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

Splashing oil onto canvas

Field of Canola
8x8
oil on canvas

I've decided to concentrate on working with oils for the next couple of months. I've put away the acrylics, most of the journals, the watercolors, the sewing, the Little Jo collages, the daily collages. I'm in the process of decluttering my studio so there's room to breathe and to think in a new way.

I have a bunch of gessoedstretched and unstretched canvas and a drawer full of oil paint and mediums. The plan is to paint large and with abandon, putting my heart, my emotions into the work and see what comes out. I'll try not to critique my own work, not yet. I'll just paint one thing after another, working on several things at a time, but working in series, on landscape and maybe some abstracted flowers.

As you see, above, my work is more than a bit constricted. I remember how I felt about seeing that huge field of canola flowers, brilliant yellow stretching to the sky. But when I put brush to canvas my feelings won't come out, not yet... but I'll get there as I put miles on my brush. Big brushes. Big canvas. Splashing on the color. I can't lose.

Even that field of canola with the same composition would be pretty impressive if it was 6 times as large.

Right now I'm experimenting with the materials. I've worked in oil before, under direction in a workshop situation, but now I want to spend the time to see what develops.

Painting with oils

I got out my oils last week and decided to just play without any self critique and I'm presenting them in the same spirit of no critiquing allowed. One thing I decided is that I need to do a LOT more work before I'm comfortable with the medium. On hot days when I first put out the oil it's quite slippery on the board and then a few days later it becomes a bit tacky as it starts to dry on my palette and I need to squeeze out more paint. No wonder some of the old palettes of the master painters are several inches thick with dried paint. They didn't clean off their palettes; they just kept adding more paint to the drying mixture.
Three little paintings reinforced for me that no matter the medium I prefer to paint an abstraction of an image rather than try to represent a more realistic version with my brush. I have my camera for copying the scenery.