First Crop

Today was a beautiful day, so it seemed very wrong and counter productive to stay indoors.

We've been growing our first batch of tomatoes, and have been watching each day for changes. It has been very exciting for my husband and I as we've watched them change from a yellow blossom to full grown and ripening tomatoes.

Today I noticed this one cluster that was an eye catching gradient from green to orange. The colors were so beautiful together, I just knew that it had to be the subject of my painting, today.

Here was my set up as I created a studio in my backyard.

I have everything I need, here. My pallet is a plastic box that has some very thin and wet sponges on the bottom. Then I place a special paper that stays wet along with the sponges underneath. This way my acrylics remain wet and usable instead of drying out within a short period of time.
I use acrylics as if they are watercolor paints. Very thin layers of acrylic are perfect for me as they cannot be re-wet or reworked.

After a significant time of painting, it was necessary to take a five minute break to cool off in the pool. Then it was back to the work at hand (if I can, in fact, call it work).



Here are the stages of this sketchy little piece:

First Crop
6x6 Graphite Acrylic Charcoal on Illustration Board

What a fun piece to paint sitting on the ground outdoors
surrounded by the sounds nature around me.

New Life Island Entrance

Last fall, I took a trip to New Life Island with the intention of painting some landscapes that will be auctioned off this coming fall to help the camp raise some much needed funds. I documented my daily NLI adventure on blogspot and also recorded the progress of each painting.

Because of weather and time, I had to leave the island with 3 completed and 3 incomplete paintings. At the beginning of this year, I began touching up the incomplete paintings so that they will be ready to display during the camp season this year.

Today I finished one of the paintings. This is the view from the entrance of the island. One of the boy's cabins can be seen on the left. The main road that runs the length of the island is followed closely by a fence whose posts we were hunting for in the woods after the first devastating flood.

Plein air painting (painting a landscape on location usually in one sitting) is very challenging, as there are many factors that change constantly while one is painting. The sun moves from one side of the sky to the other, changing light and shadow slowly sneakily before your very eyes. Clouds block the sun changing the intensity of your moving light and shadows, also changing the colors of the subject. And then there are the millions of blades of grass, twigs, leaves, and uncountable color and value changes that one cannot possibly record on canvas, but must fight ones own brain to simplify what one sees into paintable main shapes.

As difficult as it was to paint last fall on location, new challenges met me as I began to paint from poor reference photos in my studio. Much color is lost in a digital photograph, one is at the mercy of their printer to display a spectrum of color and light one can only take in with their own eyes.

Every challenge, however is an opportunity for growth. One more painting remains - the beautiful dining hall and the main piece of the collection. May my paintings reflect all that is good and meaningful about the camp.

Pennypacker Park

They said it was going to be sunny and warm. I believed them, and was not disappointed. In an effort to take advantage of the fleeting days of autumn (and thus the fleeting days of bearable weather), the Pennypacker Park on the Cooper River became my studio, today. My arrival was later than intended, and with only 3 hours to paint, it became clear that a rushed pace would be mine for the afternoon.
It was a decent study and a good practice for me.

After parking, with camera in hand, I took my ritual walk about to assess the landscape and decide the best location for the painting. After narrowing down the spot, I returned to the car for the necessities.

Apparently the rain from last week was a little overwhelming for the soil as much of the area where I wanted to set up resembled a swamp. I found a slushy island to set up camp where my bag,( poor bag, there was nowhere else for it to go than on the ground), became soaked through on the bottom - along with my camera and business cards. No harm done, though.



During one of my breaks, I took a few photographs.
This will definitely be a park that I will want to come back to in the springtime.

The view from my easel.

I became inspired by the dried leaves. What a beautiful way to die.

There is great potential for a beautiful spot in the spring. I love the character that is revealed in trees when the modesty of the leaves are gone. Such intricacy.

The sun passes through the leaves as though they are stained glass. The Master Artisan created living stained glass. Something we humans can only attempt to imitate.

Canadian Geese apparently have a very popular hangout. Aside from their personalities, they are really very beautiful birds. I wonder how much longer they'll be around before flying to warmer places.