Plein Air Painting Blitz
I just want to take some time to briefly mention a flurry of plein air (outdoor) painting activity into which I dove headlong late last summer. I was trying out a new medium to mix with oil paints. Though I wasn’t crazy about the “walnut alkyd” medium, I did get a lot out of spending time outdoors creating a new series of work.
The subject matter came from visiting parks, and even just looking at foliage in the front yard. In the process, I ran into another plein air painter. We decided to meet up to paint a couple of these scenes together, each coming up with his own artwork.
Above is a sample of one of the oil paintings from this series. Sometimes I’d finish a painting in just one sitting. Other times I’d return for a second sitting to complete the piece. It was such fun using loose brushstrokes to depict the foliage, streams, and clouds. The scenery also provided opportunity to employ various degrees of paint thickness, from flat layers to raised blobs or “impasto.”
With eight of these works I’ve finished, I’d like to get some more of them online for view. Hopefully that’ll be soon. But I’ve recently been heavily involved in another series. More on that soon. In the meantime, please go and check out the amazing and inspiring sights of summer during this beautiful season!