Orchard Gate, en plein air, 11x8"

 My second outdoors painting of the year, the gate to our orchard. Last year I had attempted to paint this same view only on the other side of the gate, and my aim had been the blooming peach tree behind the leafing apple ones. However, I had started by painting the old house in the background first and got so carried away that I ended up giving it so much detail. By the time I added the peach tree I couldn't pull it off. Angry at myself because this wasn't the first time it had happened, I took a brush to remove all the pastel I could and washed the board. 

For this one it was the light on the tower-like structure and the adjacent building that called my attention.  It was painted in early afternoon but went through some tweaking in the studio.

 Some good news: I have been accepted into the Finger Lakes Plein Air Competition in Canandaigua (June 8-10) so I'm very excited about it and a little bit scared too since this will be my first plein air competition. One more reason to get out there and paint!

The Rock Garden, en plein air, 9" x 12"

My friend MaryBeth and I went painting this morning to her next-door neighbor's garden. She had told me about this garden before but I didn't imagine it had so much to offer!

This scene with black-eyed Susan, mullein, and globe thistle, was the first one that caught my attention, so after scouting for a while I figured I needed some practice painting foregrounds and this one offered the perfect setting.

From the very beginning my goal was to practice, not to produce a finished painting; that took so much pressure off and I'm happy with the results.

5:00PM at Leetonia, en plein air, 12" x 9"

Memorial Day weekend was spend at Leetonia, PA, with family and friends.

While my husband was setting out the tent, I was setting out my easel-- My excuse: when the light is just right you cannot afford to waste time with unimportant things.

Because of the late frost we had earlier in some areas of the NE, I noticed lots of dead foliage on trees at higher elevations along the way. This was even more apparent at Leetonia (near the Great Canyon of the East, in north central PA).
I had the eerie feeling of painting fall and spring at the same time. The dead foliage had turned a rusty color that glowed orange in the sun, and the new foliage was fresh spring green. A very strange contrast indeed.

First Plein Air of the Year

Green Lakes in Spring, 9"x12"
A friend recently got a new easel and she wanted to try it outdoors so she suggested we go painting somewhere. I don't think we could have chosen a better place than Green Lakes State Park.

I have painted there before and I'm always fascinated by how fast the water changes on a breeze day. In the hour and a half we stood at the spot I figured I could have painted that scene in at least ten different ways.

Farm in Pompey Center, on location, 11" x 19"

This early evening scene was painted at the beginning of the fall season. I was able to work on location for an hour and a half before the light was gone, but by then I had almost finished it. Back at the studio I corrected the colors of the trees on the left, and added more detail to the stubble of cut corn.

I was hoping to have more fall scenes painted on location, but the weather is to be blamed for that, as most days had been rainy or cloudy ones. The few paintings I had attempted have not yielded good results, either because I'm not familiar to using reds or because I have not taken into account that light changes so fast at this time of year.

Flower Field, 13" x 19"

The weather has been rainy and cold, not conducive to painting outdoors... I have been busy doing some studio paintings for two upcoming shows, but deep in my heart, I cannot wait to be outdoors. I'm hoping for at least one glorious fall day while the leaves are still on the trees.

This painting was done on location, one evening in late August. My favorite part is the distant hill. I used a pale orange hard pastel, followed by pale blues and greens, and the mix set the tone for the rest of the painting. It was one of those experiments that turn out to work well. I finished the painting at home from memory, but all it needed was some adjustment in the color temperature of the shadow in the middle ground.

Contrary to what I would have done, one of my fellow painters suggested no to give much definition to the foreground sunflowers. I think the idea is to let the viewers look at the painting and spend some time figuring out what's in there. I'm still figuring out myself if that's the way I want it... I might even crop it.

Otisco Farmland, en plein air 13" x 19"

This pastel was painted from the same location as the previous post, from Barker Street in Otisco, although the view looks more towards the west. The colors are so different because it was done in the morning. It took about two hours to complete, with the barest of tweaking at home.

As it often happens when I start painting on location, there is some concern involved. I wonder what to include and what to leave out. I ask myself if I will have enough time to complete the painting or lay down the basic features before the light changes, so I could finish it at home. I do not like to return to the same location to finish a painting simply because the conditions are not likely to be the same, and I might see the place with different eyes. Finishing from a photo reference is out of the question for me nowadays, because I have ended up with scenes that have lost the original feeling.

Wheat and Corn, en plein air, 9" x 12"

This is a small plein air that I painted over a month ago. It took me a while to finally get a photo with the colors looking like the ones in the original.

This painting and the two previous ones will be part of several planned exhibits at local libraries, and possibly at the museum too, this fall. The Everson museum is sponsoring these events to promote the coming Turner to Cézanne exhibit in October.

White Barn, on location 9" x 12" SOLD

On Monday morning I went painting with my plein air pals of last time. The location: a barn at the intersection of Tecumseh and Waring Rd.

Seeing how they had started the barn with complimentary colors, I decided to follow suit. I have used complimentary colors in the past, but not very successfully, as I invariably ended up completely covering the first layer. This time I forced myself to use the pastel sticks sparingly, and it worked out!

One of the things I like about painting on location is meeting people, not necessarily for business purposes. While we were working, two drivers stopped to see what we were doing and asked for business cards. Then, a lady from the neighborhood came to talk to each of us. She was so happy I had included her house in my painting (red brick). I learned from her that the barn had been fixed recently and that the widower had the garden done in memory of his wife. A touching story I can associate with my painting.