Plein Air Tips

Penticton Plein Air Study

8 x 10

acrylic on canvas

I've had the pleasure of having company this week with my plein air excursions as well as with cycling, running and birding, life is as good as it gets!   And the blogging community has been active with generous artists sharing fantastic information on the basics of plein air painting!  Check out Stapleton  Kearns one of my favourites with all the basics as well Michael Chesley Johnson on the oh so invasive greens.

What to paint? Go out and find something!

Summerland Blossoms

8 x 10

acrylic on canvas

It's become such a treat to pack my paints and go exploring looking for inspiration.  It almost never fails, I'll be driving around a bend and there before me is a view that takes my breath away.   I park, put the music on, the seat heater, studio dog asleep beside in his portable bed and I paint away, waving at the occasional passerby.  Bliss...

Success!

Reifel Bird Reserve

8 x 10 study

Acrylic

On Saturday Opus Art Supplies challenged all artists to come out and join an outdoor painting challenge.   Before 10 am we were to pick up our canvas, on the large size at 16 x 20, and then paint within a defined area around Opus including some downtown and the waterfront nearby and then hand in the painting by 3 pm, awards at 5 pm.  Setting the mood for the day and first up was a fun interview and photos from a Kelowna Capital News team making me feel like a celebrity and before the photo shoot was over I had spotted exactly what I wanted to paint.    Planting my gear right by the waterfront pathway ensured a steady procession of artists, walkers, joggers and cyclists many making friendly comments as they passed by.  The most satisfying were the excited shrieks from the children as they discovered another painter!  Although the time limit of five hours sounded like there would be lots of time for lunch breaks and socializing the challenges of changing light, sun on the canvas and other peculiarities of outdoor painting had me at the easel for the entire time with only a five minute break for a cookie.  The whole project went sideways for about two hours with brief flutterings of despair till things finally went back on track.  Tantalizingly close to being finished but out of time I had to wrap it up and literally run back to make the cutoff.  The painting has some unresolved areas but I felt many aspects went well and I guess the judges felt the same way as the painting was awarded 1st place! 
The above sketch was done a couple of weeks ago near our home on the coast, the pond usually full of birds but they were shy while I sat there and painted.

More plein air studies

Ladner Fish Boat

8 x 10

plein air study

There is something I find very satisfying about spending the first few hours of the day out in the landscape painting the scene in front of me.   Again in the comfort of my car as this was a dreary cold wet morning.  

International Women's Day

Blueberry Field Study

9 x 12

acrylic on canvas paper

Back in March on International Women's Day I celebrated by packing up my paints and driving to a park near the Fraser River but instead of looking out over the river I parked the car facing the blueberry fields to the east.  The sunrise was glorious, radio playing wonderful classical music composed and performed by women and the heated car seats kept me toasty while the fresh air blew in thought the sunroof.  Then lunch with a best friend and sunset spent out on the dike with my birding partner and daughter watching the short eared owls swooping and diving through the marshes.  Some days are perfect from start to end!

Winter Snowshoe

Okanagan Park 

24 x 24

Acrylic on oak doorskin

Take what might be an otherwise drab winter day and turn it into something!  Snowshoeing, wieners roasted over a fire, a little shot of a warming liqueur and some ideas for a painting.

Winter Playground

Nickelplate series in progress

24 x 24

acrylic on doorskin

A new year and some changes!  Here is the first of some some acrylic paintings done on doorskin, a thin veneer of wood meant for building doors but giving a nice natural wood grain texture perfect for my woodsy series of winter paintings.  The acrylic is a medium I painted in many years ago and I find less of an issue when painting in confined spaces as the oil even though I use very little solvent still bothers my nose!  We spend many winter days skate skiing and snowshoeing up in the Nickelplate area above the Okanagan Valley and am so happy to finally start painting some of the gorgeous scenery. 

Going Green

Ladner Harbour Boats

11 x 14

oil on canvas

My paintings reflect my life in some ways - constantly moving between the desert and the coast.  So here we are back on the coast in the little fishing village of Ladner.  I ventured out in my car on a cool winter morning, parked in the marina parking lot facing these boats and set up my paint box (pictured below) right on my lap never leaving the warmth and privacy of the vehicle.  It was so lovely and relaxing, listening to music and painting away - almost a timeless feel.   I used my plein air paper sketch as a guide for this larger canvas piece along with some photo reference, my usual process these days.

And this is my paint box, a summer project starting with a basic box, adding a hinged palette lined with glass and two hinged side pieces for holding brushes or medium and a piece of paper towel for wiping excess paint.  Paint tubes and brushes store underneath and two panels can store in the lid.  I can paint with the box on my lap or attach it to a tripod.  I'm 'going green' by using a glass palette which can be scraped with a blade and excess paint piled in a corner to use as an undercoat for the next painting and by pinning down a small square of paper towel which can hold an astounding amount more paint than a crumpled up piece in one's hand.  I  usually work with one brush rubbing off excess paint when changing colors and making sure I load up enough new paint on the brush to gently drop in the color without the old color seeping through.  This means no solvents necessary and again fewer paper towels.  Of course this works for now while painting small, we'll see when I start painting big outside!   

Out on the trails

Lone Tree in progress

40 x 30

oil on canvas

The last fews months have been busy with numerous trail runs and races both on the wet west coast and the dry desert in the interior.  The above painting would be a familiar sight out on the trails and often when I'm out there I'm wishing I could stop and paint.   I've been focussing on plein air painting studies, the last few from the comfort of the front seat of my car but now that the temperatures are dropping it's back to the studio to go big again and a little stylized.  

Strange Days

Storm on the way

18 x 24

oil on canvas

A couple of months ago I was driving up this road to a little bakery where I buy my rice bread and I saw a huge storm moving in from the south so back down I went to get my camera so I could get some resource photos.  This painting above was my attempt to capture the mood with the sun still shining in the foreground but far down the valley was a totally different scenario.   Today on the coast it was much like that.  We had ferocious winds, torrential rain and brilliant sunshine under deep blue skies.  Yesterday and the day before it felt like Hawaii.  Strange days... 

Steveston Grand Prix Plein Air Competition

3 hour plein air challenge

11 x 14

oil on canvas board

  Not much different than an Ironman Triathlon and I'm still wiped out physically and mentally 2 days later!  The weeks leading up involved not enough training plein air trips and those times that I did get out I usually forgot something important like canvas or brushes.  A list would be needed.  Some sessions were just like transition training where I went out just to see how easily I could pack my gear, setup and take down.  Carrying wet canvases has always been a challenge.  Nutrition, hydration, clothing for all types of weather have to be thought of  but finally all my gear was carefully laid out and the process gone thru in my mind and I was ready to go. 

   The Steveston Grand Prix is organized by Mark Glavina of the Phoenix Gallery in Steveston and he and the many volunteers put on a fabulous event!  It is similar to a Quickdraw where there is a time limit to produce a painting, in this case 3 hours, but the difference is that the location is done by draw and when you are assigned a flag you have to stay within a few feet.   Below was my spot which offered a nice arrangement of buildings.

One must attempt to transfer what you see in front of you to the canvas as the light and weather changes, the clock ticks away,  and people meander by having been encouraged to ask questions sometimes wanting a little mini lesson in painting.   I found I thoroughly enjoyed the process, met lots of great people and learned quite a bit along the way.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to push themselves out of their comfort zone and into the exciting world of creating that painting right in the moment.

Desert full of vineyards

Oliver Ranch Road

16 x 20

oil on canvas

This particular spot is my favourite in the whole Okanagan.  A winding road, vineyards on each side, surrounded by mountains and leading down to one of numerous lakes in this very long valley.  Irrigation keeps the fields green in what would otherwise be a desert.  

A Beak

Okanagan Park

9 x 9

oil on doorskin

Well I had to paint this scene though the composition falls under the 'beak' category that Stapleton Kearns has warned about.  Check out his blog here to learn much about the faux pas of the amateur painter.  I had to do this one anyway as it is quite a remarkable landmark especially if one is coming into Peachland or Kelowna from the west.  Dropping out of the mountains all of a sudden Okanagan Lake is below you and across the lake is the rocky and burned out Okanagan Park, victim of a huge forest fire in 2003.  Very stark and devoid of life it is only now starting to show signs of new growth.  It's beautiful and still takes my breath away when I see it.  This particular day I had taken my little Yorkie and my new paintbox and started the piece plein air finishing in my 'kitchen' studio.  

Birds on the Brain

Osprey in progress

20 x 16

oil on canvas

Bird photography has slowed right down for me.  The trees are so thick with foliage that although I can hear them by the hundreds they are rarely seen.   So I'm going through my resource pics to find ones that I'd like to paint.  This osprey with it's mate lives just a couple of blocks from me and I was lucky to catch several shots of it moving around on the nest.  I'm trying to find a balance between realism and abstract keeping the essence without labouring over detail, minimizing brushstrokes but staying true to the image, pushing saturation of hues as always...

Shatford Show

Early Morning Calm

10 x 8

in progress

This painting does not reflect my life at the moment but rather how each day begins.  I try to start the morning with either a plein air outing or some cycling but before long manage to get swamped with technology and administration, yesterday being a new cell phone and taxes, today exploring website options and postcard designs.   Later I will visit our local art show at the Shatford Centre where I had my first success at being juried in.  In my excitement I forgot on my last post to thank Peggy Stel,  Picture This custom Framing in Penticton, who also had work juried in and did a great job framing my piece.  Hopefully the show will be online soon but in the meantime check out the winner of best in show, Shannon ford whose wonderful work can be seen at her website here.

Triptych Opening Night and an Award

Tuc-el-Nuit

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

What a week it has been!  A daughter graduating from university and an award for my triptych (currently posing as the banner for my blog).  My gratitude and thanks to Linda Lovisa of New Moon Gallery  for presenting me with an award of distinction at the Triptych Opening Night in Penticton.  Go check out Linda's wonderful gallery in Westbank and drop in to the Shatford Centre in Penticton for the show which is on till the the 27th of July.  It features the work of many great artists of the Okanagan Valley from Osoyoos to Vernon and beyond.   I am back to the plein air painting again and though the above piece is one that I started last summer I have just recently finished it in the studio.  It's a jewel of a lake and fortunately has some of the little remaining desert to the east of it with much of the rest of the valley covered in vineyards. 

Bike to Work Week

City That Cycles

Photograph

It's Bike to Work Week here and so I decided to include this photo in the few that I have hanging in Hooked On Books.  I couldn't believe the photo op whilst walking the side streets in Paris.  The street was deserted and empty but for the lineup of rental bikes parked for the day.  Not sure whether they were brought into the downtown from the burbs by workers or whether they were sitting there waiting for tourists to use.  The bikes are locked into meters all over the city and one only has to pay a fee, use the bike and then leave in any available meter.  A very bike friendly city! 

I'm in!

Rainy Day Reds  SOLD

12 x 12

oil on canvas

This painting was done on a day like today, drizzling with rain and dark and gloomy.  I liked the moody setting though, at eye level on a window sill, and my challenge was to catch the light coming through the grapes as well as bouncing off the highly reflective bowl.  Had a lot of fun with this one and it was juried into a Federation of Canadian Artists show - a first for me.  Yeah!

Skaha Bluffs

8 x 10

oil on canvas board

This piece was started on a plein air outing and finished in the studio.  It was a cool misty morning and the colors were muted but the reflections had me mesmerized.  This painting along with a few others are now hanging in a gallery in Oliver, another first for me.  These days have been busy with many new adventures.  Soon I will have a photography exhibit hanging as well in a local book shop.  What amazes me is the amount of administration that goes along with the creative part.  I can now see why artists often need someone to help manage the business.

Local heritage sites

Haynes Ranch

18 x 24

oil on canvas

With spring here and some exciting opportunities on the horizon for getting some paintings into galleries I've decided I need to ramp it up a bit, paint more and get back to the landscapes.   Last weekend I headed south for some bird photography and ended up at this old ranch, built in 1907 I believe.  It sits on a corner that I have cycled by many times but I have never before really noticed the old barns.  On this particular day I was walking around the perimeter and got some photos to bring back to paint from.  Still too cool for me to sit outside for any length of time but I'll head back when it warms up for some plein air.   There are many other beautiful old buildings in the valley that I'd like to paint before they collapse so that it will a project that should keep me going all summer.   

Birthday flowers

Pinks and Greens

12 x 12

oil on canvas

The weather has turned cold again so I stayed inside today and painted this birthday bouquet.  I'm starting to enjoy painting this subject!