From sketch to canvas

In an earlier October post I said that I was thinking of doing a full size painting using a plein air sketch I did of the Rose Theatre. Well, I found some time and did it. Here is the finished painting along with the original sketch.

 

I used fluid acrylics on a stretched 30"x30" 12 oz. canvas. I worked at it off and on for about a month until I was satisfied with the overall look. I used my artistic licensee quite liberally so it is more of a resemblance than an accurate portrayal of the site but recognizable!

 

 



Sketchy moments

Well, I have taken a little break from blogging but my wife and I have been doing our outdoor sketches on a fairly regular basis. Here are few highlights.

 

It was a nice sunny afternoon and we sat at a sidewalk bistro and sketched the Rose Theatre.  We love this little theatre and usually hit a matinee or an evening feature once or twice a month.  We watched "Gravity" in 3D and last week we saw "Captain Phillips".  Both are excellent movies.

I am thinking of doing a full size painting from this sketch.

We do a lot of hiking and this is a quick little sketch that I did while sitting in the Dosewallips State park next to the trail head.  We were having a lunch break after completing  a 4+ mile scenic hike through the forest.

 

This was a relaxing day at the beach.  It was sunny and windy at Point No Point so we found a spot to sit out of the wind and sketched the lighthouse. The beach was crowded with beachcombers, kite fliers and fishermen casting the surf for salmon.  Fun day!

 

 



Time to Draw

Well, we managed to squeeze in a few more outdoor drawing sessions.  these two sketches are the most recent.  The Bishop Victorian Hotel was sketched while sitting across the street in a parking lot.  It was a beautiful evening and we were early for our Saturday date night  movie so we decided to get out the camp chairs and do a quick sketch while we waited.  Everything went well until someone parked right in front of where we were sitting cutting off our view completely.  Oh well, it was about time for the movie to start anyway and the sketches were near completion. 

 

The boatyard sketch was completed today, the fourth of July!  Earlier in the day we did an eight mile bike ride up the Larry Scott Trail, enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch on a sunny beach and ended up in the boatyard about 4:00 p.m.  We parked our chairs in the shade of  the traveling boat lift  and spent about an hour sketching the "Paul Johnson" one of many boats in the yard waiting for paint and repairs. A fun day..........!

I really do enjoy the outdoor drawing sessions and plan to keep the momentum going for the rest of the summer. The choices for cool locations to draw or paint are endless!  Just do it!

A "real" painting

I like super realistic paintings although I do not try to paint them very often.  This orange was sitting on my studio table begging to be eaten or painted so I decided to see how realistic I could paint it with my fluid acrylics before I consumed it.  I had a little 6"x6" canvas handy that was primed with venetian red gesso so I drew it almost life size and filled the entire canvas with the subject.   I had so much fun that I went into the kitchen and borrowed a lemon and an avocado and painted them both in the same manner.   They turned out great and both sold before I got them photographed. 

 

It is great to paint outside of your comfort zone once in a while but now I look at this little 6x6 inch orange and think of how awesome it would look on a six foot by six foot or larger canvas!

 

Plein Air Convention and Expo

Wow!  We just returned from the 2nd annual Plein Air Convention and Expo  held in Monterey, California.  We had a great time taking in all the marketing seminars and most of the artist demos.  We packed light and didn't take our painting supplies but we really enjoyed watching all the outdoor painting.  It was fun to watch the artists pick a location and a subject and then proceed to make a great painting within an hour or two. It was pretty windy and I felt very intimidated by all the talent but I managed to sit still long enough to do a quick sketch of Fisherman's Wharf.

Here are a few of  my convention highlights!

This is one of my favorite painters, Ken Auster doing one of his demonstrations onstage.  This picture was taken from the huge screens they had on either side of the stage.  Very easy to watch.

This is Ken's finished painting.  He paints large (love it) and completed this San Francisco trolley car scene in less than an hour.  Impressive to watch!

This is Russian painter Alexey Steele drawing a likeness of another great painter Scott Christensen.  Alexey is very animated and great fun to watch.  He will keep you fixated with his accented commentary.

John Crump, Another of my favorite painters is shown here painting on the windy beach.  He also paints larger than most of the others so naturally I am interested!

This is John's finished painting that he created for his demonstration the day before.  This 24"x48" painting was executed in about an hour. Amazing!  I missed his demo but sought him out on the beach and got to talk to him in person.  Great guy!

This is Don Demers doing a demo on the beach.  He is a great Maritime painter and always draws a huge crowd.

And there were plein air painters everywhere!  They came from all over the world to be here for this event.  Spectacular!