Plein Air-ing it

"Alexandria"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas

I love long weekends especially at the cabin with family and friends. Sleeping was the number one thing in the agenda and I am happy to say that I succeeded. Second to sleeping was continuing my journey with plein air paintings. As I mentioned in previous post landscapes are not my strong suit, but I do have an admiration for them and enjoy painting them any chance I can. I wanted to try to capture the time of day as fast as I can without having the distraction of putting every hair on a dog.  My goals were to capture the time of day, mood in the painting, and edit my process.

Similar to my previous post, I started with the top left picture with just a quick gesture of the landscape. I only want to capture the essence of the scene and its perspective. The top right picture shows my next step, this stage I only ad the overall tones for each section of the painting. This stage I like to call the "rough" in stage, still going quick to capture the type of light I want, similar to doing gestures but with color. This stage allows me to see how the overall color and mood that will be in the final painting. I want to try to keep close to this palette the further I move away from this stage and closer to the final. The bottom left picture I start to zero in on a section and take it to a finish. I first start with the darker values and move to the lighter values. In this stage I am taking the tree's in the foreground and the tree's in the background to a close finish. Then on the bottom right picture I complete the lake and sky, repeating the same process in working from dark to lighter values.  When all the shapes and values are stated in the painting and close to a finish I can then go around and put the finishing touches. 

Painting on location.

Here is another painting I did when the sun was starting to set the previous day. This was a really quick painting as the clouds were going in and out. The size of this painting is 5 x7 inches, being restricted to that size allows you to go much quicker.

Thank you again for stopping by and viewing. I hope you enjoyed this post and the paintings. Till next time, cheers!

Red's Reflected by Mn Artist JONI FINNEGAN

Plein Air Painting can be a wide variety of weather experiences. Calming quiet of the outdoors with bird song, sweet fragrances of outdoor blossoms, wild winds creating anchoring challenges, numb fingers from the cold, rain drops fighting with the oils on my pallete , dripping wet from hight heat humidity - there are times when all of those variables happen in the same painting excursion. Not even addressing the issue of bugs in all this. I am admittedly a fair weather painter, especially when I'm close to home. However, there have been plenty of painting trips where one paints no matter what the weather is. Once in a while those painting trips have the magic of absolute perfection in weather- like the day this painting was created. Early October, northern Wisconsin, the Autumn color was at its best with a barely felt breeze An occaisional leaf fluttering down on calm waters. I felt like I was standing in a pallete of yellows, oranges and reds. A treat in every way. A lovely memory to reflect on today as the Janurary winds are mightily gusting outside my studio window. Soon it will be spring, then summer and on to the fall with all the promise of another variety of painting experiences. 8x10 plein air oil painting done on a linen panel. to view more of my art please visit www.cfai.co/jonifinnegan/ and www.jonifinnegan.com

'Frederick' - Minnesota River Arts Plein Air buy Deb Kirkeeide

Frederick

8 x 8 Oil

©2012 Deb Kirkeeide

Frederick was a young steer who was tied up outside one of the houses at The Landing for

education day. He wasn't a very cooperative model as he kept moving in all directions. So this amounts to a very quick study of him before the park was filled with large groups of kids. 

Each group was guided through the park and taught what day to day life was like in the mid to late 1800s. The best comment I heard from one of these kids was "they sure painted a lot back then!" I guess he assumed all of the painters were part of this museum!

Frederick

$100.00 Purchase here.

For more paintings please visit my blog and website.

At The Edge of the Woods by Mn artist Joni Finnegan

About this Painting:
8x10 Oil on Artist prepared panel
Winter Landscape "At the Edge of the Woods $125.

to purchase contact the artist
finnridge@hotmail.com

An unusual year for Minnesota when I can stand out side on the 10th of January and paint with out freezing my fingers!
The light of a balmy Minnesota winter day was already begin to turn a lovely coral rose with the sun lowering in the sky.I saw a magic little vista featuring a clump of trees at the edge of the deep woods light up, quickly grabbed my paints and brushes and painted from the west patio of our home. I feel pretty fortunate to have views like this right from my home, Today that same area is a blur of white and grey blowing snow.. this is minnesota after all!

Morning on the Creek

Morning on the Creek

9x12 oil

©2011 Deb Kirkeeide

I'm back from Wyoming where I spent some time painting at the 7D Ranch in Cody. This is the third time  I've been there and it's always a great time. Our band of merry artists was smaller this time but it's always a treat to spend time with this group as we've formed a special bond over the years.

The weather was perfect, as was the scenery. Pretty much every waking hour was spent outdoors. I just couldn't seem to soak up enough of the peaceful beauty of this area. No bears this year, though there were plenty of bear attack stories told around the fire. (thanks, John!) The extent of wildlife was limited to the mouse in my cabin and the cows from the neighboring ranch. They broke out and hung out around the cabins for a while until the cowboys showed up to wrangle them home.

This was the first painting of the trip. Standing on the bridge overlooking the creek, the morning started out calm but soon the wind picked up and I had to finish quickly while holding down my easel.

More to come!

August Morning

August Morning

6x8 Oil

© 2011 Deb Kirkeeide

This was my morning warm up piece from our paint out at the winery. Since I don't go out and paint terribly often, I'm always a little rusty and tend to dive in for a quick study just to warm up.

I think I would like to try this one again a little bigger. Hopefully I'll have a chance to go back soon.

There's something very intriguing and poetic about the path leading through the pasture and into the woods. I wonder where it would have led me to.

For all  of you in the Minnesota / Wisconsin area, I'd like to invite you to our opening reception for

Project Art For Nature. Reception is Friday the 26th 6:30 - 8:30 at The Phipps Center For the Arts in Hudson, WI. I've heard it's a great show and I've got several pieces in it. So come on out for a visit!

Early Spring at Minnehaha Falls

Early Spring at Minnehaha Falls

About This Painting:
Daily Painting Landscape
Early Spring at Minnehaha Falls
Free shipping within the Untied States!!!

Media: OIl on linen panel
Size: 8 in X 10 in (20.3 cm X 25.4 cm)
Price: $100 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $100 USD
Or, send me an email

http://www.judithmandersonfinearts.com/