Plein Air - Old Stable in the Paddock

Attempting plein air painting with water mixable oils again
 

After my disastrous attempt at plein air with water mixable oils in France I didn't want to leave it too long before having another go.  A bit like falling off a horse - get back in the saddle asap!  I have fancied the old stable in the paddock as subject matter for a while, and in the sunshine it looked very inspiring.  I loved the leafy shadows cast by the overhanging willow branches onto the old weathered wood.  

A very busy scene

As you can see by the photo there was a lot of detail that would need simplifying - I was definitely going for an impression.  It is very different attempting a scene like this from life compared to working from a reference picture.  Everything seemed high definition yet in a constant state of change as the sun kept disappearing behind clouds and there was a frisky breeze.  Mistake number one - the sun was very bright and very strong.  I should have used my easel umbrella to shield the canvas board, then paint colours could have been assessed more accurately.  Mistake number two - I probably needed to either work on a larger board, or, considered the composition more carefully and made the old stable a bit smaller to allow for more context to surround it.  A quick value sketch would have organised this.  Anyway I started brushing on a diluted wash of ultramarine blue mixed with burnt umber feeling very optimistic.

As I wanted to keep everything loose I decided against any detailed drawing and opted to lift out the pale shape of the old stable with kitchen towel from the damp wash.  

Mid tone wash with pale shapes lifted out
(apologies for the dark photo) 

A slightly more concentrated wash of the same colours was used next to block in and define the main dark areas.  At the time I was quite happy at this stage but with hindsight I would definitely have preferred more room for the foreground grasses.  This canvas board is A4 size and I have found these proportions tricky in the past, if I am working small scale my eye prefers the 8" x 10" ratio (20 x 25cms) for some reason.    

Main dark passages blocked in

My strategy was to have thin darks and thicker paint for the light areas so the work progressed through various shades of green (all made from blues and yellows, sometimes toned down with burnt sienna) and pale neutrals for the weathered wood.  I had to try and capture the cast shadows when the sun blazed, but tricky as they constantly swayed and danced.  By now I realised that this would not be a masterpiece... my heart sank a little.  In frustration I utilised a palette knife to apply linear marks with naples yellow to suggest some of the long blonde dried grasses and finally dotted in the pale blue 'skyholes' in the trees.  At least both these actions gave the work a little boost! 

 

The Old Stable, water mixable oils on canvas board, 21 x 29.5cms

So there it is.  I spent an hour and forty minutes out in the open air, totally engrossed, and although I ended up with a painting that will probably just get stored away somewhere I thoroughly enjoyed the process and learned a few valuable lessons along the way.  Somme, the Labrador, had a whale of a time.  He was either charging around the field or taking shelter in the shade, accompanied by several balls of varying sizes from his collection!

There is still something I find inspiring about this scene and I may try it again with my soft pastels, either working from life again or maybe directly from the photograph.  Perhaps this is an exercise you might like to try - work on a subject you have tackled before but in a different medium?

Paint Small Scale

I have taken a close up photo of the painting I did in the paddock.  I forgot yesterday, probably because I was so cold by the time I got back indoors.  Then I had to clean up my brushes before having, at last, lovely hot soup...

'Last of the Snow', Artisan oils, 10x8"

Have realised how tricky it is to photograph oil paintings when they are fresh.  There is a sheen that makes light bounce off the surface.  One aspect I did enjoy was working on this scale - it can help to stop all those fiddly details.

If this is one of your goals, why not try this?  Big brushes - small scale support - and save the little brushes just for a few tweaks at the end?

6 New Year Art Resolutions

Yes, six New Year resolutions - a tall order I know. 

Hard at work

 

1.  Work smaller scale.  I do seem to naturally work larger scale - I enjoy making big gestural strokes.  Whilst working in the large airy studio spaces during my degree course that was fine, but now I am in my garden studio at home storing large works can quickly become a problem.  Smaller scale works on paper can be stored in a browser or portfolio.  Smaller framed works and canvases are more 'user-friendly' in the current economic climate too.  This strategy may help me to become more prolific.  I plan to work on a series of very small paintings based on the local landscape around my village.  Watch this space...

 

2.  Work more from life.  I believe that working from life creates many more opportunities for a personal style to develop.  Responses to subject matter are more immediate and experimental in the process of mark making to capture what is there in real life.  Incorporated into this resolution is the desire to use my sketchbooks as much as possible and to utilize small snatches of time creatively.

 

3.  Close Inspection - Initiate a series of work.  For some reason I take a lot of photos of close-up textural surfaces - rust, tree bark etc - and when I review them I love the abstract qualities.  So far only one of these images has been a basis for a painting.  I plan to do more but that first mixed media painting titled 'Close Inspection' is the start and lends its name to what I hope will become a visually exciting collection.

 

Close Inspection, mixed media on canvas, 30x30cms



4.  Seasonal - Initiate a series of work.  I really enjoy painting still life based on fruit and vegetables.  Maybe being a vegetarian has something to do with it!  So far the work I have done has been initiated because of class preparation but I really would like to do some more for my own pleasure.  Tracking seasonal produce would be an ideal opportunity this coming year.

 

5.  Act on opportunities and interests - don't put things off...

 

6.  Website.  I have at last got this blog back on track but the same can't be said for my website.  I read somewhere that an unfinished website 'under construction' is worse than not having one at all.  My poor website needs finishing.  The problem is I am not quite sure whether to have it just for my animal artwork or to broaden it out to include other genres.  This dilemma is compounded by the fact that I work across a lot of different media but I do think an artist website is stronger with a tighter focus. 

 

So, my resolutions are out in the big wide world; reviewing them in December will be interesting!

 

What do you hope to achieve in 2013? 

  

Quick small pastel painting

Rabbit Size Tunnel, 11.5 x 18.5 cms
Pastel on Canson paper.





Today I was determined to get something 'arty' done.  With lots of things on the agenda I knew it would have be quick so I opted to scale down the size of the paper support and just go for the 'gist'.  I had nothing in mind initially but a scroll through some of my photos prompted me to go for a seasonal theme and I chose a view taken at the beginning of the year when we had a fresh snowfall.  When time is short this is an ideal way to use the time productively - why not give it a go?