WIP - Poured painting of petunias - fingers crossed

This painting is being developed by careful planning and a solid preliminary drawing, pour an application of paint and then mask then repeat.  To get to this stage, the work has gone through six paint pours and six mask applications. I masked our the white areas initially then poured a light shade of pink.  There were three pink pours in total and two shades of green and one of dark blue.

Removing the masking compound is a bit of a work out and somewhat stressful.  The work has to be completely dry prior to removal.  One of the key elements of this method is to not allow the mask to sit on the paper for too long.  Also, I am nervous when I think I should use a hair dryer to accelerate the drying process.  I am really timid that the mask will bond to the paper and ruin the effort.

I am at the stage now where I soften us any harsh edges created my masking.  Then I will start to further develop the painting.  Although this method is laborious, it it still faster than my normal approach.  At least this is what I tell myself.

 

Plein Air painting - Bloomin Artists in Hampton this past weekend

Bloomin Artists

Pretty Potted Petunias

Smiling Sundrops

What a wonderful weekend!  

Painting plein air in beautiful gardens in Hampton.  Wonderful gardeners, mingling with artists and no appreciable amount of rain.

As artists, we are normally working solitary.  When we have a change to participate in events like this, we get to mingle and catch up and view the work that was produced.  Certainly gets my creative juices flowing.

Garden Tigers

I produced five paintings over the course of the two days,  A few are shared below - I forgot to photograph the honeysuckle vine.  On Saturday, the humidity was very high.  The excess moisture caused some softening or blurring of details while working with watercolor.  On Sunday, other than the threat of rain the main hazards were the blood thirsty midges.  You know, the little black flies that will even fly into your eyes and up your nose. Nasty beasties.  Distracting.  Irritating and annoying.

Sit a Spell

Ah, plein air painting.  I love it. And all for a good cause.

WIP -Complete - Longing For Spring

This painting seems to have taken longer than usual to complete.  It is a large acrylic paintng 36" x 30".  For more information on this you visit my posting on my new website at

http://helenshideler.com/blog/33008/longing-for-spring

Work in progress - Longing For Spring

This is a slow motion work in progress.  I started it late April and worked quite diligently on it until mid-May.  Then I had to get ready for a few art type obligations and had to let it rest for awhile.  So now am back at it as I would like to include it in my show "Full Spectrum" at the Saint John Imperial Theater from August 29th to November 18th.

I have added more tone to the clapboards on the side of the house, worked on the windows and the wreath and a started to tackle the snow.  I have been scumbling various lyres of colors in a circular pattern to get the feeling and texture of the snow.  I have destroyed a round bristle brush in the process - oh well,  just a work hazard.  Also been using paper tower and my fingers building up translucent layers.  

Still have a lot of work to do with the shadows and reflected red tones from the chairs.  Starting to feel the end  - two or three solid more days of painting should wrap it up.  And then on to the obligatory staring and scrutinizing stage.  All is good!

Artists-by-the-Sea, St.Andrew's NB, 2011 in support of Hospice, Charlotte County

Gonna Rain?

King of the Commons
unfinished - have photo to complete it

This was one to write home about.  In spite of the torrential rain dropping 50mls of water in the area on Saturday, we were still able to produce paintings.  A few of us were able to hunker down on the verandah of the Algonquin.  Fortunately, I had the where with all to grab some photos that I had of the St. Andrew’s area from last years event.  I know the whole point of painting plein air is painting what you see outside in front of you – but heavy rain is heavy rain and I opted for the photo route.  

Tide Going Out
Will touch up the little house

During the course of the day, Alma Campbell and I each completed three paintings.  John Colwell was a machine and completed a number of his whimsical acrylic florals with that thick delicious paint.  And it was wonderful to connect with Morag Walsh as well.  She managed to get a few plein air pieces done and completed a few more as well.  The company was wonderful.  Overall a really good day.  

Did I mention the skies parted and the sun came out about 4:00 as we were wrapping up for the day? 

Obviously from a photo

Standing Tall and Proud

Sunday was a scortcher.  Hot humid and 32 degrees.  Complete opposite of the previous day.  We were painting down on the wharf.  Donned sunglasses, sunbrella (neat word – wonderful tool), slathered sunscreen, downed tons of water and decided our next painting would have to be painted in the shade!  Unbelievable, we are so accustomed to foul weather that we cannot tolerate a lot of humidity and heat.

Spent the afternoon on the St. Andrew’s Commons – under a tree. Ahhhh!  

Artists-By-the-Sea, St. Andrews

Wondering About Supper

Weather Uncertain

 July 9^th & 10^th, 2011

Could Clear up - Could Rain

The annual fundraiser for Hospice Charlotte County takes place this coming weekend.  

In addition to offering the Plein Air paintings that artists complete around St Andrews during the event, the organizers have requested that artists bring along some small works with them – to kick start the silent auction process.   I have been very busy this holiday long weekend getting ready.  

Lone Sentinel

Coming In or Going Out

These are a number of the small paintings (5"x7" matted to 8" x 10") I that I completed for this event.  Hope to see you there!

Old Reliable

Honestly, I think I was more afraid to start this commission than I have ever been when starting a portrait.  The owner of this tractor loves it.  He is more than proud of it. And so my conundrum (I love that word).   Painting nature is a bit more forgiving and less precise than rendering something that has been manufactured.  Tractors are specific, they have gears & grills, shiny parts and mucky parts along with very specific angles, perspective and proportions. 

The drawing has to be precise and representational of all the details.  No room for errors here.  Have to invest the time upfront to get it right.  Typically, I approach a painting with a very loose drawing focusing on volume – how much space the subject occupies, proportions, and the best composition to do it the most justice.  So I had to switch gears with this one. No pun intended.

In order to capture the softness of the spring sky I used a gel medium to keep the acrylic paint wet longer to allow for more blending.  Then I began working on the details of the horizon and the areas between the rail fence. 

Next I fussed with getting the reds right.  I mixed and tested and mixed some more.  Somewhere along the line I began to relearn that acrylic reds are difficult.  The colors deepen as they dry – whereas with watercolor they lighten.  Often deepening for several hours after the color has been applied.  Also acrylic reds have a tendency towards streaking. Layer after layer after layer of red and orange were applied.  The next day more layering of lighter reds. You get the idea. 

And finally, it is complete and I am at the starting stage.  This is when I stare at the painting with squinty eyes and a critical view.  Looking for any area requiring tweaking and fussing.  I generally wait two- three days before sealing the work and framing – just in case….