On a Clear Day

Original Acrylic on Canvas 24 x 48

On a clear day, the name of my newest painting, is the view that we are lucky enough to see from the beach just a 5 minute walk from my house, when the clouds lift and the air is clear. This is the view from Cattle Point, looking across the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward Washington State. The gorgeous mountain in the background is Mt. Baker, which is always capped with snow. it's truly magnificent and on a day like this everyone asks "Did you see Mt. Baker today?" I had to adjust the tones of the distant islands between the water and the mountain. I didn't have them pushed back far enough. But once I painted in the foreground it was obvious that the tones in the background needed to be lightened a bit. It's all relative...



I had another great day yesterday painting on the lawn of the Empress Hotel again. I won't tell you about the gale force winds when we arrived. I'll just say that EVERYTHING was tied or taped down. I almost attached myself! But, are the skies ever clear now! Not a cloud to be seen! Mt. Baker is once again in full view. I had the opportunity to chat with a lot of tourists and almost all of them were from Texas or Alabama. When I asked why so many people from that area were up here in Canada, they all said "Trying to beat the heat!" I told them that they were fortunate to come from a place filled with so many talented artists, and that I was in awe of the amount of talent residing in Texas. Okay, I know it's a big State but still! I can tell you they were visibly proud! :-)

On a Clear Day

First Plein Air Painting Day of 2011

This is my first plein air painting of 2011. It's been a long year since I did this, and not only was I very rusty, but I'd forgotten just how challenging painting outdoors is. But first, what a beautiful day it was! My painting buddy Sharon Churchill and I headed to one of our favourite locations - Glencoe Cove. It was the first warm, sunny weekend since the end of September 2010!! If you live in the Pacific Northwest you know that I'm only joking a little bit. In any case we had a glorious day, and some wonderful visitors, and below are some photos of our afternoon.


This cat must belong to an artist. He was so friendly, rubbing up against our legs, then he stretched out on the rocks and watched us for a while.


We were painting away and suddenly this beautiful little deer, came walking down the beach. How great is that?


The deer left the beach, then suddenly she was right beside us, checking us out from between the wild flowers, but by the time I picked up my camera, she had started to walk off.



Sharon with her new plein air painting set up. This was the first day she used her new painting umbrella. (I was very envious).

Sharon's painting was far superiour to mine.....but then I didn't have an umbrella! :-)

Plein air painting really is difficult. But although my painting was seriously lame, I did have a wonderful day and am excited to get out there again.

Here are some things that I should have been thinking about, but was distracted by all the natural beauty.

• First off I needed to simplify the scene. In my desire to have a foreground, midground and background, I ended up with a bit too much going on.

• I had a real problem with values. I don't know if it was because it was so bright, but when I got home and looked at my painting, I had made everything too dark. So this lame painting has actually been touched up a bit. In Michael Albala's book Landscape Painting, he states that "Ultimately, judging values is not a matching exercise between subject and painting; it is a comparative exercise among the values within the painting itself."
• The light kept changing quickly, and I got drawn into changing the water over and over again, even though I know not to. I was sort of caught up in the moment and not really planning the painting all that well. Albala recommends that "plein air painters take their time. A painting that is incomplete but well thought out and organized is ultimately superior to something that is "finished" but rushed and unrealized. An unfinished painting can easily be completed indoors because it has a solid foundation." I think that's a very relevant comment. So for next time, I'll approach it in a more relaxed and thoughtful manner, simplify, plan my composition with simplicity in mind, and make a comparison of my values within the painting. And I'll try not to be so distracted by all that natural beauty!
  

First Plein Air Painting Day of 2011

Morning Calm

Original Acrylic on Canvas  16 x 20  Framed $450

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This is a scene from Saltspring Island. I was up early and photographed this peaceful scene with the little fishing boat tied up. I loved the light on the boat and the diagonal line formed by the current in the water, leading in a curve toward the boat. I had to lighten the background mountains a few times to push them back sufficiently. The foreground shadows were formed by a tree and I considered putting in a piece of branch to explain the shadow, but decided it would be too distracting. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? I could still put it in.

Morning Calm

Vancouver Skyline

Original Oil on Panel - Plein Air  8 x 10  $100 + s/h
Last week we were in my old home town of Vancouver. Gotta love the energy in that city! The first few days the weather was overcast and a bit cold but we had a heatwave later in the week. This is a plein air done on a cloudy with sunny periods day. A bit challenging. It's a view of the West End from Kitsilano, with those gorgeous North Shore mountains as a backdrop. We used to live just up the hill from this spot, and went here often, so I had to revisit and paint it.

Vancouver Skyline

Arbutus

Arbutus - Acrylic on Canvas - SOLD

Ahh the Arbutus Tree! One of the most lovely trees on the west coast. It only grows within a short distance of salty sea air, and has the most unusual green peeling bark that exposes beautiful burnished red under bark. It twists and turns and is usually clinging to a cliff or rock precariously. This lovely specimen was backed by a fallen Arbutus tree trunk, downed during a wind storm, and both just needed to be painted.

Arbutus

Trial Island

Here I am plein air painting off of South Oak Bay about 1 mile from where I live.

Original Oil 8 x 10 SOLD

On the weekend my painting buddy Sharon and I headed out on probably the most beautiful day we've had so far this summer. We absolutely had to stop when we saw this million dollar view of Trial Island with the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, fully visible in the background. The Olympic Mountains are generally cloaked in cloud.

I'm generally pleased with the outcome but I think I got a bit too busy with the foreground. Those pesky details just want to jump off my brush! I'm happy with the aerial perspective though.

Trial Island