(brace yourself) Boathouses!

My first--and greatest--student teacher was in town and she wanted to have an art-geek morning and go plein air painting! How could I resist?! We set up camp at non other than the Canandaigua Boathouses! Wendy ended up selling one of her pieces almost right off her easel! 


[oil paint on gessoboard panel, W+N oil paints on an allaprimapochade.com box]

Wendy's setup

More of her setup

action shot

finished painting

both of our finished pieces!

Plein Air--trees

More plein-air painting at a ridiculous hour. 

This painting is now SOLD--woo hoo. Maybe some pics from it's new home will follow! 


[oil paint on gessoboard panel, W+N oil paints on an allaprimapochade.com box]

Plein Air--Ganondagan

We got up at an obscenely early time for a sunday and went painting/photo-bug-hunting at a near by Native American Community/Museum. They have some great hiking trails and grasslands open to the public--which coincidentally for my fiancee--contain a ton of creepy crawly spiders for her to take pictures of. Meanwhile, I can set up the ole easel and paint away! 

[oil paint on gessoboard panel, W+N oil paints on an allaprimapochade.com box]

Plein air afternoon

It was finally a nice afternoon around here and we had a sniff of spring last week. I grabbed the plein air kit and headed out to get some practice for the Finger Lakes Plein Air festival. I was accompanied by some locals who were sharing some VERY interesting life stories. 

[w+n/gamblin oils, allaprima pochade box--custom]

sketch

round 1

final

Apples and oil paints

My lovely girlfriend and I got up way too early on a Sunday and headed out to the Apple Farm for an "art date"--she takes pictures, I paint. The day was wildly beautiful, sun and clouds and a crisp fall air blowing in from the wrong direction. I hiked it way out to the far corner of the property trying to find something to paint. It wasn't for a lack of scenery, it was the opposite--TOO MUCH SCENERY! I started one painting and about 45 minutes in I was not happy with the design so I wiped it all down and moved to start something different. The results were much better! 

All the while I was visited by some nut-hatches, a cardinal, a disc-golfer, and a family of turkeys. 

Oh, and the best part about painting at an apple farm? No need to bring snacks! They grow on trees! 

(Thanks Bejan)

first attempt

better attempt!

sketching seems to help with my design

Thousand Islands

But has anyone "really" counted them?

We had a dudes weekend planned and the weather decided to be less than favorable for the time we were in the 1,000 Islands. Mid morning I took break from our usual shenanigans and headed down to the water to paint. It was a dreary morning, gray and more gray, rainy and did I mention gray? 

I decided to use a limited palette to reflect the grayness. Indigo came in really handy! 

the image needed some editing--it was so gray the pic was dull! 

Waterfalls

My lovely girlfriend and I have been hiking a lot of waterfalls this summer--thank you Keen. At the base of one of the falls there wasn't a person in sight so she laid on a rock to nap and I attempted to sketch running water. It wasn't a bad attempt considering I haven't done it before and there is no white watercolor. I have a hard time leaving whites, so I had to pencil them in so I wouldn't blaze over them! 

[Uni Pin pens, D+S watercolors in a Sennelier sketchbook]

New outlook

After seeing the "pro-artists" come through town and seeing their point of view on very boring subjects, I have a whole new appreciation for the subjects in my town. I learned a lot just by peering over their shoulders! Like this one, or here. 

[pentel pencil, namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a S+B Zeta sketchbook]

Community Paint out!

I had a unique experience when the Finger Lakes Plein Air competition came right through my front door step! There were 44 juried in artists painting in and around Canandaigua. This past Saturday you could go anywhere downtown and find an artist painting! It was artist heaven. That same afternoon they had a "Community Paint Out" where us amateur artists could come out and within a 2 hour window, create a piece of artwork and have it judged! 

I had 4 different locations all scouted out and when it came time to paint--all 4 of my places were either taken, not there anymore (I guess the hot dog cart guy retired!), or in shadow! So I reverted to the rooftops behind my apartment building. I was a little rushed and my final piece was not anywhere near what I had imagined. But the experience was fun and I didn't get sunburnt--so that was a bonus. 

I plan on re-doing the scene on a piece of scrap wood that is about 3 feet long and 8 inches high. I think that format would capture the scene a little better! 

Stay Tuned.

[pentel pencil, namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors, and Inktense watercolor pencils on S+B Delta loose paper]

Garbage pile

With the Finger Lakes Plein Air competition in town, I volunteered to help out with art intake, serving at the gala and setup. After one night of helping out I noticed this awesome pile of junk behind the carriage house at Sonnenburg Gardens. We got done earlier than planned so I scampered back there and got sketching! I was intrigued by the white chair so I thought the gray paper would be a good choice. I camped out and captured this neat behind the scene view.

A few nights later I was back at the same location and a rainstorm slowed down the intake of artwork--so I had some time to kill! I attempted to sketch the pile again, but rain drops and an awkward pose stopped me early. I finished up the other layers of paint at home.