Finished my second year of the #stradaeasel 31 day challenge!
Painting from life every day has a powerful effect on my growth as a painter. I don’t have time to paint from life every day, but participating in a challenge really helps! I did it last year during the month of January, and then again this year.
On January 29th as I stood in a snow-covered field at dusk, with no one else around, I watched flocks of geese screech across the pink sky. I folded up my easel since the painting light was gone, put on some warmer gloves to revive my hands, and walked further into the field to admire the mountains and feel the cold air on my face. January has taken on a brilliance now that I’ve done multiple plein air paintings during the last two Januarys and it’s been amazing.
I hope you enjoy my collage of January paintings from 2019!
Peaks and Valleys: Around the Wasatch Front
Join me for my solo show of plein air works at the Marmalade Library between June 4th and July 20th, 2018. There will be an opening reception where you can meet the artist and view the works on Thursday, June 14, 2018 from 7:00 to 8:30pm.
The show will include primarily new works from 2018 of plein air scenes from around Salt Lake City, Ogden, Lehi, Midway and a few other spots in the valley.
I'm so pleased to get to share my work, answer your questions, and also showcase this valley I've grown to love living in. Please come by and see the show!
Scouting the Perfect Location for Plein Air Painting
Scouting the perfect plein air location takes time. The important part is to pull over and paint.
I was watching a YouTube video of a fairly well-known painter not that long ago and he mentioned "The Moses Syndrome." For those unfamiliar with Moses' reputation, he wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before arriving at the Promised Land. It's easy to pack your equipment and painting box in the car, knowing you have an hour or two before the golden hours of evening, grab a snack and some water, and head out in a general direction you think might work. It's also easy to pass a beautiful scene with reasonable subject matter and keep driving, believing that you'll find something with better lighting, a structure or scene you like more, something without water so you don't have to paint it, something with less traffic or a more comfortable place to stand, something where you can park and work out of the back of your hatchback.
All of these reasons to keep driving are great, but at a certain point, you'll feel much more satisfied if you pull over, get out your paints and give the sketch a chance. The endorphins from painting are much more satisfying than driving home empty handed, or getting started so late you only have 30 minutes of light left.
Today I had an ideal scouting adventure. There was a spot I had seen over and over when driving to and from a regular appointment of mine. I didn't know what it was called, but I knew I wanted to go there. I picked out a landmark I recognized, and opened Google Maps this afternoon. I located the landmark on Google Maps, and then panned around in Street View to see the area and make sure I was on the right track.
Tonight, when painting time came, I put the landmark into my phone's Google Maps, set my course and drove right there. I still drove around for about 20 minutes looking for my favorite spot to stand and feel like I wasn't in the way of people driving, but it was a good example of a successful scouting adventure. I also found a scene to paint that was capturing the evening light just right, and enjoyed my perfect evening covered in ultramarine blue and feeling a breeze at my back.
Winter Plein Air
Hey there! Today we went on a nice adventure so I could get out and do some plein air (painting outdoors). We drove up a canyon near our neighborhood, grabbed the gear, and I picked a spot to paint. We had an appointment at 6pm we didn't want to be late for, so I set a timer and painted an 8x10 panel in less than 1.5 hours! (That's a record for me). It's not my very favorite plein air, my fingers were cold, I had some new gear to try, and I was standing on a bed of squishy, wet snow in dim winter light. The warm yellow glow right over the Oquirrh Mountains was reflecting off the reservoir, and that was my inspiration. Loved getting out to get some chill on my cheeks!
This was also a return to the first place I painted plein air, and this one was much more relaxed, and turned out much better than the first scary attempt.