Behind the Scenes: Plein Air Painting

Here are some behind the scenes shots from my recent plein air painting trip.  The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore always provides me with such great inspiration.  I hope you find your own inspiration from the beauty in the world that surrounds you.

Sunrise over the Straits of Mackinac from the beach in Mackinaw City.

This piece was created from a photography trip in the spring of 2014.  I arose early in the morning and went to the beach to experience the freshness of the morning light, cool breezes and early morning sounds of the boats leaving the harbor.  All the while seagulls flew around on their early morning fishing expedition.  As always my trusty camera was ready and waiting.  I watched the progress of the rising sun, moving clouds and mists and the radiant color changes.  When I later reviewed the photographs I preferred the layers of colors and values that seemed so peaceful.  Even though I was at home in my studio, I felt as though I was right there on the beach painting.

 

I started with thin washes of color which I poured on a horizontal canvas and let it flow serendipitously.   

 Then I turned the canvas upright and layered in the broad bands of color.   

Next painting session I worked on details that held more information about the ground beneath my feet.

Sunrise Over the Straits of Mackinack

18" x 24" acrylic seascape

Delightful Dunes

Dunes: romantic, beautiful, lazy, ever moving, inviting, restful, invigorating, healing.

Choosing a composition: season, colors, lighting, time of day.

To express my vision is delightfully challenging.  I can start a plein air painting and watch the scene change from sunny to cloudy and watch a storm approach quickly changing every plan I have made. 

Finding the Jewels in Your Artwork

Physical Process:

I started this 11” x 14” acrylic painting as a demonstration for a student who would later take over working on it.  In many of my pieces I start with a thin wash of paint to establish the cool or warm colors in the local areas and then I build values to the desired strengths.  The abstract shapes give the feeling, from a distance, of a finished work of art.

 

 

  

Mental Process:

The lesson here was on building a painting by starting with a solid foundation to work on.  To do this, I look at a subject in order to determine its strengths and weaknesses, which ensures a good composition.  This helps the viewer to see my vision and feel the visual paths that I want the observer to travel through.  In this piece they are traveling through the woods, over the water, and hopefully seeing the centers of interest as jewels in the work of art.

Artistic License

This black and white, acrylic, 30” x 40” painting of a local tree, is a study of composition and finding the strength within the subject and the space that it occupies.  As I painted with my brush, I felt like a conductor directing an orchestra.  As I painted, the real life summer greens fell away like the leaves in a fall windstorm, and all that was left in my artistic rendering was a sparsely covered tree - bare and almost naked - in all of its truth.