Plein Air to Studio and Mentoring

It is the end of summer 2018 and time to move back into the studio (which I just found yet another way to rearrange!). A few of the small plein air studies of August will become studio paintings - here is the first one in progress.

3, 6 or 9 hours available: I will mentor artists in my Black Diamond, WA studio 3 Fridays this fall, 11 AM to 2 PM. Bring your supplies and whatever you are currently working on or start a new painting. Any medium. I have room for ONE more student each day. Let me know if you are interested. Email me at barbaranewton at comcast dot net. Sept. 28, October 12 and November 2. 

9-26-18 Thanks everyone for your interest in my Fall sessions. All sessions are full.

Figure Drawing

Today I had the opportunity to draw from a live model. Somehow, nearly 50 years have gone by since I last did this. I'm not joking...the last time I remember doing this was when my two children were babies.  Conte crayon on newsprint. It was fun!

Is it plein air?

plein-air | plānˈer | adjective [attributive] denoting or in the manner of a 19th-century style of painting outdoors, or with a strong sense of the open air, that became a central feature of French impressionism.
As with most days this August, I headed outside to paint this morning. I admit I wasn't very inspired but I thought I'd paint the Studio garden and winding path again. After about an hour I had a cute little painting. I'm not a fan of cute little paintings. Surprisingly, I hadn't taken any photos of my location or progress steps as I usually do so I can't show you how really cute it was but without hesitation I wiped the whole thing off with a paper towel and began again with a big brush then a palette knife. So, there I was, painting outdoors. but instead of the scene before me I found myself painting from memory until this woodland scene emerged. I don't know if this painting would be called plein air but the experience was so I titled it Plein Air Morning.

Plein Air Morning, Oil, 8x6 inches
©2018 Barbara Benedetti Newton

Dock and brushes

This is how Marlene's Dock began

This morning was much cooler and overcast setting the subdued mood (no bright sunshine, no sparkly water or bright highlights) for painting our neighbor's old dock plein air. I started with a gessoed panel that had been toned with acrylic. Yes, you CAN paint oil over acrylic but NOT acrylic over oil.

Marlene's Dock, plein air, oil with acrylic underpainting.
6x8 inches ©2018 Barbara Benedetti Newton

I've been painting for months with Rosemary & Co. Ivory brushes which are new to me this year but I've been thinking about mark-making and how these brushes differ from the marks made by hog bristle. I already have too many brushes so today I sorted them to see what I have before I order more.

My favorites: Assorted hog bristle, Rosemary & Co. Ivory, Rosemary & Co. Shiraz and Princeton Umbria 6200 Series.

28 minutes - August Sunrise II

August 8, 2018. August Sunrise II, oil, 6x8 inches, Plein Air

Started before 6AM with very little color in the sky.
Painting fast because 28 minutes later it was all over.

Painting our lake

August 1, 2018 Lake Sawyer wc

August 2, 2018 Lake Sawyer wc

August 3, 2018 Lake Sawyer wc

During the first 3 days of August I painted our lake plein air with watercolor each day. Those days produced pretty bad paintings and I was reminded that I hate wet wavy paper (need some 300lb) and how much more I enjoy watercolor in the Studio, painting nearly flat.

On the 4th day I considered why I was painting in wc: mostly ease of cleanup. So I switched to oil but used water-soluble oils for easy cleanup and now I'm having fun. It is obvious that I need to get up earlier for different light on the lake.

August 4, 2018 August Lake, 6x8 ws Oil

August 5, 2018 Boat House, 6x8 ws Oil

August 6, 2018 Lake Sawyer, 6x8 ws Oil

Oil over acrylic foundation - figurative

Best summer in recent memory...hot weather by the lake, lunches with good friends, my Critique Group for the Fourth Annual overnight here, our To Family gathering complete, good health, my new kayak. I'll also remember 2018 as the summer I went back to working with the figure, this time my two grandsons in oil. The oldest will be leaving for college soon and family dynamics will change so I wanted to capture this sweet moment of camaraderie between two brothers.

Clear gessoed birch panel and acrylic paint

Blocking in the shapes with acrylic

Acrylic underpainting complete

Now the fun part...oil. This is about 80% complete.  Stay tuned.

 

Watercolor Plein Air - my August challenge

Every time I post in yet another medium on this blog, I lose subscribers. I wonder if my pastel followers are still around? I like to experiment and will eventually get back to the medium you were interested in when you subscribed. Thanks for those who hang in there with me through my journey.

Yesterday I became interested in painting plein air with watercolor. Hahha. Watercolor was difficult enough for me many years ago in a controlled studio atmosphere so now I've decided to try it plein air? I actually had fun with it years ago and even taught workshops then decided I that at my age I wouldn't live long enough to learn all it has to offer so I moved on. My admiration to all watercolorists. However, now that I have forgotten all I ever knew about it, I'm back at least for the month of August and am not concerned about in-depth study of the medium. I don't care which colors are transparent, translucent, staining, etc. In fact, when I found this lidded palette in my Studio I wonder if it is even mine? I don't know what these colors are but I painted with it yesterday, 8-1 on a little block of cold press.

8-1-18 in progress. Well, actually done because I didn't finish it. I started painting in the cloudy morning and didn't have a chance to photograph it until sunny afternoon.

8-2-18 lake again. Pretty cold and gray today. I added Neutral Tint, Burnt Sienna and Cerulean Blue to an additional palette and began painting on 140 lb taped down. My HUGE annoyance is wavy paper so I will definitely order some 300 lb. because I don't want to stretch the 140 lb.