plein air week 6

                              8x10

Cape May Point was the location, and it was hot! My little umbrella didnt provide enough shade.

At home my friend Robin, visiting for a few days, and I worked on a project suggested by Chloe Briggs of drawingisfree.org: we made stencils of leaves and used them to paint overlapping transparent layers. Time consuming but fun.

double crested cormorants

When I visit my brother in St Pete FL we love to kayak at Fort de Soto. Often we're  followed by cormorants who dive under us to catch fish, sometimes so many it's hard to paddle.

Haven't quite got it yet, but these are painted from photos I took while kayaking.

plein air week 5

                               @6×8

Tried out some new paper, a block of Hahnemuhle. It's  cold press but has very little texture. I liked it but I don't think it'd stand up to repeated washes, which worked out for this week's plein air as I had planned to do quick paintings.

There were so many great compositions-- water, dunes, rocks. I did a couple of quick sketches, then two small paintings.

Stopped at No Frills Farm on the way home for a couple of their beautiful bouquets!

plein air, week 4

                               8x10

It was bound to happen. Off to a bad start when we decided the location we'd selected just wasn't, for various reasons, working for us. Quickly looked at a couple of other possibilities, settled on one ... but, in my mind anyway, it was too late.

Maybe if I'd done a 2nd version, it wouldve been better ...

Did this little sketch at home.

                                 5x7
Oh well: we got out, we got the paint wet.

On to week 5!

dolphins!

                                 7x11

These sisters were watching some dolphins spotted offshore. Everyone is always so delighted to see them, including me!

Lost the freshness I had hoped to achieve with too much (probably needless!) "correcting"! Will I ever learn?

Okay, so, this is the first draft ...

plein air, week 3

For this week's plein air we decided to change it up a bit and instead of painting a beach scene painted in a wildlife management area, Cox Hall Creek.

As you see, I found it very challenging--the greens, but also defining space, finding shapes ... and painting shadows falling on tall grasses. Definitely could use some practice with shadows!

plein air, week 2

Another 2- hour Friday a.m. plein air outing. There are so many nice spots along the Delaware Bay. My friend Gina and I are trying to just choose a spot, set up, and get painting: no dithering over what to paint, we paint what's in front of us. Which I think is great practice. Also less anxiety producing and definitely a time saver.