En Plein Air

This last Sunday, I joined the nice folks from the Missouri Plein Air Painters' Association as they painted at the Johnson-Shields Recreation Area along the Mississippi River. I chose to look across the river and paint the bluffs along the other side that make up the west side of Alton, IL (see above). This was my second time actually using my pastels outdoors. Usually, if I draw outside, I will make a value study with pencil which will then be turned in to a painting in the studio. However, as with any painting, one of the challenges is to decide what message you want to convey - what is the painting's story? In this instance, there are actually quite a number of homes along the top right of the bluff, the Great River Road runs along the base (and is often flooded when the river rises more than 3 or four feet!), and there is a whole lot of industry to either side of the section I painted. I ended up deciding that it was the bluff itself that drew me to paint that particular location, and so everything else had to be simplified. A huge smoke stack, a conveyor belt with a big pile of gravel, and telephone poles were taken out from the left, and just to the right is a huge section of grain elevators and a gaudily painted riverboat casino.

But that day it was the cliff. When I arrived at about 10:00 am, the protruding parts of the bluff were in sunlight, and the rest in shade. However, by the time I set up, decided what to attack, and found my vine charcoal, I could see that the rest of the bluff face was slowly entering the sunshine. Therefore, instead of starting with the sky as I usually do, I set about quickly putting in the lights and darks of the bluff before the light changed too much. The houses went in last. I saved them because I wasn't sure I wanted to add them, since I don't usually put manmade structures in my landscapes. However, the bluff was just a bluff without them, and I think they make a pretty good addition - a spot of color if nothing else - and it gives the viewer more details about this particular bluff. Without the homes, it could be any bluff. By the time I left at noon, the painting was as you see it. I'd give it about a B-.

While the result may not be my favorite, the experience was fantastic. As my schedule allows, I plan to join these guys every Sunday, although it will probably, in reality, only be about once each month. I'll keep y'all posted!

Keep stretching those boundaries!

PastelGuy

Keepin' It Coming!

Once The Salute to the Arts show was over, I thought I would have nothing going on on the art front. Wrong! I'm not the kind who can sit still for long. In fact watching TV lasts for about 30 minutes, and then I have to get up and do something new. I think it's important to always have something on the horizon - something to look forward to, since anticipation is always half the joy. If I didn't have something in the works for after the show, there would be this huge letdown. True, there was a huge letdown, but at least there are more upward slopes in the near future.

One of them is the 2-man show which I will be part of at a local gallery in two weeks. Today after school, I took her 24 paintings for the upcoming show which starts with an open house on September 12 from 5 - 8 at Gallerie M in St. Louis. Photographer Dennis O'Malley and I will be sharing the spotlight. His photos are in black and white with subject matter from all over the world, a great complement to my pastels with subject matter from around the US. I was really great to see my paintings hanging on walls. Last weekend, they were on the panels of my display booth, but that's nothing to seeing them on well-lit walls! We discussed pricing, and agreed to bow to the market's downward turn and adjust them just a teensy bit. We agreed that it's better to move art than to keep stockpiling it! Goodness knows I don't need 24 paintings sitting around my house!

Speaking of paintings in my house, we almost bought a HUGE painting at the art show from a Florida artist named Rasa Saldaitis. Unfortunately, our downstairs refrigerator kicked the bucket a couple of days before the show, and so Martha went out and bought a new refrigerator. There goes our artwork money! I'm sure the poor artist thought I was lying when I gave her the whole new refrigerator story, but for once it's true! My son picked out one of her prints from the kids' art tent, so I guess we'll live with that one (for now!).

I also met another great artist, M. Shawn Cornell at the show. He's from St. Louis and does his paintings entirely en plein air. He and his father started the Missouri Plein Air Painters Association, and they meet every weekend at different locations in the area, no matter what the weather is! They invited me to join them on one of their paintouts, so I think I may take them up on it this weekend, since it's a three-day weekend here in the US. I'm sure there will be a later posting about that experience.

So, although the big show that has been consuming me and my family's life since April is over, I have several opportunities coming up soon, and that's what it's all about!

Keep your eye on the future!

PastelGuy