photo v.s. plein air

I use photos all the time......especially when painting complicated subjects like city scenes, figures in motion and places where it would be especially difficult to paint  (like standing near or on a dangerous street). I must say, the more I paint, the less I like using them - in fact when I'm out painting plein air I don't even take a photo of where I'm working for the most part. I have discovered that the photos are so untrue to the scene and often quite disappointing that I would rather rely on memory. The 12" square painting below has been sitting on my drying wall for over two years - there was something I liked about it but something I hated about it too. I had some painter friends visiting from RI and one of them mentioned this one which caused me to see it with fresh eyes. It used to have a sign above the door which always seemed crowded and too close to the edge. So......I took the sign out and liked it much better. Still, the drawbacks of "photo-painting" seem to be embodied in the difference between the top painting and the bottom painting which was done plein air in my yard. 

This painting which is 24x12" has drawbacks as well...........the composition is weak since I wasn't paying all that much attention to it because that wasn't my focus. Now, this painting is soaking wet and at least two (probably three) years newer than the top picture so one would hope that my skills have improved somewhat but I find it much more interesting than the top picture (which does have a kind of neat composition) plus it was a lot more enjoyable to paint. Now that I see a photo of the painting, I see other issues as well but it does have a "life" that the top one doesn't. I don't expect to ever stop using photos since they are so valuable to my process but it's nice to be aware of their limitations.

I've been pretty light on the posting for the past month. I had cataract surgery on one eye and am waiting to have the other eye done (next week). It was very successful so far and I can't wait till it's all over. Right now the only issue is the huge difference between the done and undone eyes........I'm hoping I won't even have to wear glasses anymore. So far it seems like a miracle!

alley light - 20x16"

I am quite close to finishing this one.......Just a note here, I have cataract surgery in 6 days. I am unsure what to expect for the next week or so following the surgery so I am don't know if I will be able to paint. I'm pretty excited about getting it done because my vision has been worsening steadily since last fall. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well.

some finishing

I sort of finished this 12x9 last year (and even signed it) but never framed it because something bothered me about it. The other day I realized that there were a few value issues and corrected them.

I am just about done with this 24x12" shrimp boat painting. Both of these photos look too dark to me on the white background I am now using on the blog............I'll have to figure this out soon.

beach scene and street corner

I've completed this 10x20" beach scene and am pretty pleased after having to repaint the bathing suit about three times!

Began this 12" square painting this week. It's still pretty cold outside here and everything looks gray and tired.....yesterday I gave up working after two hours because I could not get the studio warm enough and I just threw an unwitnessed tantrum and went in to the house and read a book the rest of the day. I haven't invested in a more powerful heater because it's usually not needed in this area (it is semitropical) and I don't want to waste the space it would take up. It's much better today and my out of sorts mood is gone! 

a little old and a little new

This painting was very hard to photograph........I finished it the other day but hated each picture I took - and then it was too dark to take another. It still looks kind of awful in the photo even though it looks pretty good in real life.....the light was different today but it doesn't seem to help.

This one - 12" square - is new. I am in the mood to work from photos again after spending nearly a month working solely from life. I have gone out plein air several times but mostly for practice - and, it's been really cold and rainy.

red brick - 14x18"

Sorry about the poor quality of this photo.......my camera's acting a bit weird and the light was terrible. I am back from my 10 days traveling to and from Texas to visit my daughter (and help her with some wedding prep). My plan was to paint along the way (I took 3 days) and then paint there as well. I knew there weren't too many daylight hours but I wanted to try. The weather was pretty awful - in fact, every time I wasn't driving, it was pouring! The Saturday prior to Thanksgiving, there were so many flash flood alerts that all of our phones were sounding alarms all day. It was so wet that I couldn't even really take photos................I was pretty happy to get home and pick up the brush! This building is in Savannah GA and I got this great view one day on my way home from Dick Blick (art store).

French Quarter Renovation - 22x22"

I have finally finished this painting after setting it aside for several months.....had even ordered a frame for it months ago.

cupcake airstream - 12x12"

Got really, really close to finishing this today but an enormous thunderstorm hit, the lights flickered, and I quit. It was as dark as night and branches were falling on the studio roof (they were pretty small but sounded big). I saw this cool trailer/vendor while I was visiting my daughter in Austin and have wanted to paint it ever since so I decided to do it.

July Heat

Just a couple of updates on things I have been working on - both are 20x16." I totally changed the background of the  beach scene - this painting is designed to be an ad for my upcoming show and I wanted a large area to lay copy over. I wasn't happy at all with bare beach and a top rim of beach trees at the top.....realized that as long as the values were quite close in the majority of the painting, it should work in a similar fashion.  The man reading the paper is pretty much done - stopped myself from doing picky little "ending things" and will now let it dry. The real heat is definitely here! Even when the temperature is only 93, the heat index says it feels like 101.......no mid-day painting outdoors for sure! I kind of love it though.

reading in the sun - 18x14"

Sorry about the glare but I worked pretty late today & decided to post anyway since I have had a bad summer cold for the past few days and did little else but sleep and blow my nose. I must say, having a fever when it's 93 and humid is no fun. At any rate, I woke up and felt much better this morning and couldn't wait to get to the studio, began this one and it flowed.

first week of summer

Well, it's the first week of summer and I am enjoying my studio immensely! I realized that I have been spending way too much time moving supplies around and setting things up during the past year (unable to avoid)......the unfinished studio was susceptible to temperature extremes and had somewhat inadequate light. It is great to be able to leave everything in place and not waste so much time adjusting things. Anyway, here are a few things I have been working on during the past week. This picture is a study for a possible larger painting I have in mind.....just color and composition ideas (it's 8x8").

I started this one at about 9am this morning (14x11") and was beginning to make progress but..........the tide went out, it stared to rain and the boat left! Three strikes for sure. I'm going to go back tomorrow if the weather conditions are right and see if the boat is docked at the same spot.

I am working on this 20x16" in the studio and hoping to finish it in the next day or so.......

two updates

I have been alternating working on these two paintings for the past week or so - in between moving stuff back and forth between the studio and the house depending on the temperature. It is impossible to work in the studio when it is around freezing and insulating it will be a priority when I do the renovations this spring. Neither photo is very good because the lighting isn't great in the living room....this is complicated by the fact that I am sort of tripping over the 50 or so tropical plants I managed to drag into the house (a couple of lizards are thriving as well). I am eagerly fantasizing about heat and humidity!

time flies!

Just a quick update on a couple of pictures.............I realized with a start that we are approaching the middle of January and I had totally forgotten to post anything. Actually, I took time off when my kids were here but started right up again after they left.....got out of the habit of posting, I guess. My son and I planned out the studio upgrades before he left so I am pretty excited about that......this will probably take place in late spring. It's been New England style cold here and I think I have lost a bunch of plants to the deep freeze............time will tell. I covered everything I could but there is only so much that can be done when you have tall tropical trees and it stays in the teens for two days!

correction & progress

 

 

I have been working on this and preparing for Christmas since my two children will be flying in........I can't wait to see them! As soon as I posted this painting the other day, I realized that I had mistaken the size - it is actually 22" square. Since it is so complicated I have been working on the drawing and the values more than the color. I don't like doing those kind of adjustments until I have covered the entire canvas.

French Quarter morning - 18x18"

This is my second beginning for this painting............the main reason I wanted to do it was the look of the shadows of the fire escapes on the buildings. Because of the complexity of the scene I got a bit lost in the first version so I began a second one working in a fashion that I normally never use. I actually drew it in pencil first and then did a wash drawing over that! It encourages a semi-tight approach but I didn't know how else I could do it. I now feel like I understand the structure better but it is certainly time consuming.

light on the tracks - 20x16"

Just a bit of an update.........the two kids are nearly done and I began the top one yesterday when the "kids" were wet enough that I had to put them aside. I have four or so paintings that I need to finish that are in this drying/setting process and am going to attempt to finish them in the next couple of weeks. In addition to that, it is plain air weather in SC again! One thing that is great about down here is that you get the same angled, side-ish (not a word?) light that you get in New England without the wind and freezing temperatures......it was 75 today. Anyway, even if I don't show them, I do plenty of "studies" outside and really think of them that way - studies for me to learn and use.

development - 24x24"

I have had to change a bunch of things in this picture to make it work better and am still mulling over further changes....we shall see. I have been trying to pay close attention to values - something that can be quite difficult to judge from a photo so you have to rely on all of the knowledge gleaned from the unsuccessful studies you have done outside! It was quite hot here the past few days so I wasn't remotely tempted to paint outside.......plus the traffic to the State Beach I live near is awful on weekends and holidays. Now that Labor Day is past, it should de-congest (is that a word?) 

New Orleans side street - 24x24"

I began this after a week of supreme busy-ness and plein air painting squeezed in. At any rate, I felt a true desire to escape the heat and brightness so my studio (with its AC & absence of windows) was just the remedy. I am attempting to retain the looseness I have developed while painting outside this summer while working inside using photo reference.............I am liking the fact that I have given myself the opportunity to just work outside without worrying whether it is a "good" painting. 

making plans - 10x8"

 

 

I decided to do a couple of "less large" things in the next week or so and the upper picture is one of those. I like to work larger (it's really all relative). Smaller things are quite a bit easier to finish in one session and, therefore, better for blogging. But it's also nice to explore an idea without investing huge amounts of time and then move on. I doubt that I will ever be able to work on 6x6's........just feels way too inhibiting to me. I am also going to have to get a new computer and I know (from past experience) that switching over is going to be quite an investmement in time but I better do it before it crashes for the last time - I thought it had happened yesterday.

getting there

 I am finally feeling a little better..............I had been working on this when the flu "hit" me. Went out plein air for two hours today to the Broad River - did a wiper for sure but it was wonderful to be out again after being sick for more than a week. The weather was beautiful and a pod of dolphins decided they would cheer me up while I was working. Every day is a little better but, boy, would I recommend a flu shot for anyone who hasn't gotten one yet!