A Surprise, Last-Minute Plein Air Sunday Invitation

Rear Patio of a home in Ridglea Hills, Fort Worth, Texas

Back Yard of the same home in Fort Worth, Texas

Though I retired to bed very early last night, worn out from the all-day plein air competition in Glen Rose, Texas, I suprised myself by awaking at 7:40 this morning and getting up.  After showering, dressing and enjoying a slow breakfast, I put on coffee, retired to my Man Cave and sat reading The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell and enjoying his ideas.  Before I had a chance to reach for my journal and record my own musings, my phone rang and I was extended a surprise invitation.  A fellow artist who was scheduled to paint at the Hidden Garden Show hosted by the Fort Worth Historical Society was taken sick and could not appear.  I was asked to show in this artist’s stead.  I almost refused, because I was achy and felt weak from the day before, but I realized that another plein air opportunity was offered on some exclusive property.  So I accepted.

Forty-five minutes later, I was in the Ridglea Hills edition of west Fort Worth, where I painted from noon till 5:00 and sold another watercolor.  The day was hot, climbing to 90 degrees, but 25 mph winds and my standing under shade trees the entire day made the weather tolerable.  As with yesterday, I apologize for offering no profound thoughts, quotes, or poetic spin, but again I am tired to the bone and ready to hit the sack again, early tonight.  A full week of school awaits, and I have a three-day art festival to attend beginning Friday.

I like the second painting much better.  I had always wanted to paint someone’s “landscape” boulder, and enjoyed working on the colors and textures of this monolith.  I added the iron fence at the very end of the painting, hoping it would lend a little more dynamic to the composition.

Thanks for reading.

I paint in order to remember.

I journal because I feel alone.

I blog to remind myself that I am not alone.

An All-Day Plein Air Paint-Out in Glen Rose, Texas

Barnard Mill, 1860

I apologize in advance for not posting an articulate blog.  I’m still weak from my recent illness and I completed an eight-hour paint-out in a day that reached 91 degrees in Glen Rose, Texas.  I did manage to kick out three watercolors in that span.  That’s not very fast by my standards, but I’m a bit rusty, still a bit tired, and really was in no hurry.  This is the old Barnard Mill.  I was blessed to receive Honorable Mention for this piece, which took me just under two hours to complete.  I am very attached to this structure and cannot wait for my next opportunity to return to Glen Rose and do another study of it.  I really believe I will one day do a large full-size watercolor of this magnificent old structure.

Heritage Park

I next drove to Heritage Park and looked over all the historical structures that had been moved there.  But it was high noon, and the light wasn’t that great.  The heat was starting to wear me down as well.  After breaking for a quick lunch I set to work on this stone structure, but couldn’t really get what I wanted on the paper, though I enjoyed scrutinizing every detail of this building.  No matter how I worked, I just didn’t seem to be solving this one as well as I had the mill earlier in the morning.

Barnard Mill Door

After a second refresher break (I must have downed about eight bottles of water today!), I returned to the Barnard Mill with about 90 minutes left until the cut-off time.  I decided to give a shot at one of the doors below the composition that I painted first thing this morning.  I thought it would be somewhat easy, since I’ve painted quite a few abused door in my garage over this past winter.  It wasn’t.  I found myself fighting this one as well.  Again, I chalked it up to heat and fatigue.  When it was done, I was glad to know that I had eked out three paintings in a day.  And then a bonus–this one got purchased!  So I was glad to come home with some money in my pocket in addition to the Honorable Mention ribbon.

Glen Rose is a little over sixy miles from where I live.  The drive down this morning (I rose at 6:00) was very scenic and serene, and by the time I arrived, I was ready to paint.  But by day’s end, I was dried up, had to wait an hour for the judging to run its course, and then the reception and art sale was scheduled for another hour.  So I got home a little after 7:00 this evening, made dinner, and now, with one eye open, am pushing out this blog.

I think I hear my bed calling out to me.  I don’t know when I’ve been more ready to crash for the night.

Thanks always for reading.

I paint in order to remember.

I journal because I feel alone.

I blog to remind myself that I am not alone.

More Possibilities Than I Can Pursue on a Day of Watercoloring

My Private Art Student Oil Painting en Plein Air

This Saturday is off to a roaring start.  First, I wanted to post this photo of my private art student doing her first oil en plein air, early yesterday evening.  What you are looking at took her one hour to do.  Fifteen minutes later, she was finished.  First time!  And she just turned 16.  She is enrolled in a magnet school of the Fine and Performing Arts, and has a great future.  I am amazed at her creative flourish.

Before retiring to bed early last night, I had a flood of ideas for what I wanted to do next in watercolor, too many to get done in one day.  I cleaned the Man Cave, rearranged furnishings to suit better what I was about to do, cleared off my gigantic vintage drafting table, and retired to bed happy.  Sleeping in till 8:30, I took an hour to shower, dress, cook breakfast, put on coffee, and get after it.  Only problem was–while showering, I was flooded with several more ideas for watercolor, in addition to what I imagined last night.  TOO MANY IDEAS!  A little frustrating.  Einstein once wondered why he got his greatest ideas while shaving.  At any rate, I am “loosening up” by working on some vintage fishing lures again.  I sold a couple of originals at my last art festival, so I’ve been intending to punch up my inventory and trying to improve my technique by putting out some more of these on a small scale.  Below is a photo of one just under way.  I’ll be posting more as the day unfolds.

Thanks for reading.

I paint in order to remember.

I journal because I am alone.

I blog to remind myself that I am not alone.

 

Fresh Start on a Vintage Bomber Lure

Final Post of the Day (I Hope)

Kicking Back and Looking at the Week’s Output

I perhaps owe an apology to my subscribers for “clogging the blog” today.  I have been annoyed in times past by someone posting dozens of blogs in the same day, and my BlackBerry going off all the time with each new announcement.  I try not to make a practice of this.  Nevertheless, I wanted to post a picture of one of my doors in the man cave covered with what happened over the past eight days, beginning with a Saturday plein air excursion in Ennis, Texas, and culminating in today’s activity, closing out a series of watercolors in the Man Cave.  I feel a measure of satisfaction that I can look at the week’s output and say I have accomplished something in addition to showing up for school everyday to monitor TAKS testing and teach truncated classes in the afternoon.  I can now look back over it all and say it has been a good week.

Thanks for reading.  This should do it for today!

I paint in order to remember.

I journal because I am alone.

I blog to remind myself that I am not alone.

Watercoloring en Plein Air with Friends out on the Prairie

Tandy Hills Park, Fort Worth, Texas

 

2nd attempt to Paint Wild Section of Tandy Hills Park, Fort Worth

For the second consecutive weekend, I had the privilege of gathering with my plein air painting friends.  We met at the Tandy Hills Park in east Fort Worth and participated in Prairie Fest, a Green festival that draws a wonderful crowd of environmentally-friendly people, the best kind.  The live music was spectacular, and a number of us found a wonderful patch of wild prairie land on the east side of the park, away from all the festival booths.

I took two shots at the same spot, a stand of trees with natural grasses and flowers in the foreground.  I enjoyed my experiments in masquing and salting, as well as working with water-soluble graphite pencils and watercolor pencils, in addition to my Winsor & Newton pigments.

The skies remained overcast most of the time, so the quality of light was not the greatest.  But the cool breezes were certainly welcome, and it would not have been much fun for sun-sensitive me to stand out on an open prairie around noon with the sun beating down on me.

I’m glad to be back home this afternoon.  I’m a little tired from the morning excursion, and feel that I may have to wait until this evening to get back to work in the studio.  I have several pieces I would love to finish, but feel some fatigue setting in right now.

Thanks for reading.

I paint in order to remember.

I journal because I am alone.

I blog to remind myself that I am not alone.

A Magnificent Plein-Air Day of Watercoloring

Plein Air Watercolor Sketch #1

Plein Air Watercolor Sketch #2

This morning, my painting buddy Chris and I piled our equipment into my Jeep around 8:30 and motored south to Ennis, Texas, to Love Park.  We found a large gathering of plein air painters from the north Texas area that we are fortunate to join from time to time in these excursions.  The day was sun-washed, about 60 degrees, with pleasant winds.  Bluebonnets infested the area, and most of the oil painters were standing completely enveloped in them as they painted their surroundings.

I chose a spot across the road from them, that had more cedars than bluebonnets, and I made two attempts at watercolor sketching these subjects.  Pines and cedars have always flummoxed me in watercolor (and still do).  I spent the entire morning, and early afternoon, staring at one single cedar, half in shadow, with a scattering of bluebonnets beneath.  I admired the view blissfully, and worked very hard, trying to match up the reddish-green tints that clothe the cedar.  I tried Quinachridone, Permanent Rose, Winsor Red and Cadmium Red.  I mixed in some Transparent Yellow, and occasionally Cadmium Yellow.  Nothing seemed to work in the final analysis.  I also studied hard the separation of shadows and mid-tones in the mass of the cedar, and enjoyed all the nuances I saw in those middle tones, the primarily warm colors, and the cools in the shadows.  I worked on those as well.

The bluebonnets–well, this was my second attempt in about four years with those.  I never can seem to make them “pop” out of their environment of green on my paper the way they do on earth.  I don’t have a clue yet what that secret is.  They looked pretty good against the white paper, but disappeared as I floated light, subtle greens around them to give them a “home.”  I guess I’ll have to work on that problem another day.

It was a very pleasant experience, the plein air sketching today.  I met some fabulous new friends that I look forward to seeing again.  We plan to gather at PrairieFest in Fort Worth on April 27 for another day of plein air bliss.

Thanks for reading.

I paint to remember.

I journal because I am alone.

I blog to remind myself I am not alone. 

A Delicious Afternoon in the Man Cave, Sketching, Watercoloring, Reading, Journaling, Pondering

Beginnings of a Cafe Still-Life

Only through art can we get outside of ourselves and know another’s view of the universe which is not the same as ours and see landscapes which would otherwise have remained unknown to us like the landscapes of the moon.  Thanks to art, instead of seeing a single world, our own, we see it multiply until we have before us as many worlds as there are original artists.

Marcel Proust

I emerged from school to face my weekend with a heart full of gladness.  The 67-degree sunshine and soothing breeze made for a heavenly afternoon in the Man Cave, and I immediately went back to the work I barely commenced late last night–a diner’s mug on a checkered cloth, with vintage spectacles and an old envelope.  All I accomplished last night were laying down the shadows, wet-on-wet. This afternoon I got after some color blocks on the fabric, some further modeling and glazing on the mug (including some of reflected pinks of the cloth on the side of the mug), and a little bit of work on the spectacles.

Once the painting got overly wet, I decided to settle into the comfy chair for some reading in the Hemingway biography.  But the Cave was darkened by the positioning of my doors (trying to control the lamp source on the still-life), and I suddenly got an idea for some reading light.  Yesterday, while browsing the antique store, I found something I had wanted for ten years but could never find–an old vintage “farmhouse-style” screen door!  Price was $37.  I loaded it in the Jeep and brought it to the cave.  It had been propped behind some still life objects for a future composition, but today I decided to use it functionally–I spread my doors and inserted the screen between them to let in the light and the breeze.

Once I sat with the Hemingway biography in my lap, and felt that first caress of the breeze coming through, I laughed out loud, remembering the Seinfeld episode when Kramer installed the screen door on his apartment entrance, and sat outside in the hall with a garden hose, watering plants!

Interior of Man Cave. looking out screen door

Standing Outside the Man Cave, looking in the screen door

Quick Attempt to Sketch the Man Cave Doors

After reading the Hemingway biography for a stretch of time, I then turned to my Journal and recorded some of the highlights of this day, especially some new ideas planted recently by my high school students (at my age, they still astound me with their insight and creative ways of looking at the world).  I then returned to work a little further on the table cloth patterns of my new cafe painting.  Then, taking a stretch break, I stepped outside the Cave and was surprised by the sight of the western sun on my screen door and the adjoining one.  I quickly installed a porcelain doorknob, set up my plein air easel, and went to work as quickly as possible, like a man possessed, before I lost the sunset light (about 15 minutes).  I absolutely loved getting into the wood surfaces of the doors along with their knobs, handles, keyholes, etc.  Once the light faded, I decided to call it quits on this one, and perhaps will return to it at the same time tomorrow evening, or Sunday evening.

I cannot describe my disposition this afternoon, except to say I was quite “scattered”.  I wanted to paint everything, draw everything (I left out the detail that I also worked out some pencil sketches of the diner’s mug because I was having some problems “solving” it’s form.  I didn’t bother posting those photographs, because I feel I’ve already loaded plenty into this post).  It was a delightful afternoon, divided between two paintings, some sketches, excellent reading, as well as some thinking and journaling.  All the best things were here for me this day.

Rapid Watercolor Sketch of the Door knob (about 15 minutes)

I have an invitation to go on a plein air excursion with friends this weekend, and I’m seriously considering it.  I’ve waited all winter for this opportunity, and have had only one such encounter.  I’m ready once again to get outside and into the light.

This has been a beautiful afternoon and evening.  Thank you for sharing in it with me.  And thank you always for caring enough to read me.

I paint in order to remember.

I journal because I am alone.

I blog to remind myself that I am not alone.

Watercoloring Saturday in the Man Cave

Plein Air Painting of Waxahachie Bridge

The Red River stills flows through my home town
Rollin’ and tumblin’ on its way
Swirling around the old bridge pylons
Where a boy fishes the morning away
His bicycle leans on an oak tree
While the cars rumble over his head
An aeroplane leaves a trail in an empty blue sky
And the young birds call out to be fed.

Neil Young, “It’s a Dream”

A couple of years ago, during the “Paint Historic Waxahachie” plein air event, I set up my easel beneath this 1930-era bridge as a storm gathered overhead.  I was happy with the results, and rather surprised that I have been unable to sell this painting.  Oh well.  A few weeks ago, as I drove along the highway, listening to Neil Young on my CD player, this song played, and I captured the image of what I wanted to do next.  I am usually disappointed in my efforts of painting from a painting, but nevertheless that is what I attempted in the Man Cave today.  I used the old painting above to create the one below.   I enjoyed the experience.  Now I’m drained, and I suppose that after a good night’s sleep, I’ll decide tomorrow whether I like this one or not.  It not, I’ll give it another try, because I certainly want to master this composition.

Neil Young-Inspired Watercolor

Thanks for reading.

Plein Air Painting in the Botanical Gardens, Good Friday

Watercolor Sketch in the Fort Worth Botanical Garden

What a wonderful morning to greet!  I awoke before 8:00, without an alarm, showered, packed my plein air watercolor supplies, and drove to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  By 9:30, I was at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden, where at least sixteen other painters would gather today for the pure pleasure of painting in a 60-degree environment, with a gentle breeze, plenty of cloud cover, and sporadic bursts of sunlight.

Tripp’s easel in front of the pines

I’m out of plein air practice (first time in 2013).  So I lingered over this one for ninety minutes.  I did not allow myself to get in a hurry, or to think in terms of completing a painting worthy of framing.  As one of my painter friends said this morning: “Plein air is not for finished paintings; it is Information Gathering, nothing else.”  I kept that in mind.  And like Willem de Kooning, I often spent more time staring and thinking than actually painting during those ninety minutes.  I thought of Andrew Wyeth as I continually reached for the pencil and worked to manipulate the dry brush.  The bark of this pine was so fascinating to my eye.  I really want to turn around and try another one this weekend.

Artists painting in the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

I cannot overstate the sweetness and camaraderie I felt as I looked up from my easel to the right and saw these three, diligently at work on their compositions.

Plein air artist working behind me

Or turning around and watching her working so quickly and deftly on her oil composition.  It was truly a magical day.

A number of us finished the morning shift with lunch together at the Kimbell Art Museum, enjoying conversation and a rest from the session.  Most of them returned for the afternoon.  I, unfortunately, had some art business commitments to see through, so I loaded the Jeep and headed back to the studio for some matting and framing that had to be done.

It is nightfall now, and my mind still goes back to the magic of this morning.

Thanks for reading.

Plein Air Watercolor of a Neighbor’s Trees in the Fall

Plein Air Autumn Landscape

My intention this evening was to paint well into the night, enjoying the dropping temperatures, and the ambiance of my Man Cave studio.  Instead I was blessed with a couple of visits from artist friends that I never get to see enough of.  I could not have planned a better evening.  Great conversation ensued, and I’m now inspired more than I was a few hours ago.  I’m confident that this will carry over into tomorrow after school, so I’ll just let this night go.

But before I retire, here is a sketch I chose to finish up after my company left.  I started this plein air sketch of my neighbor’s trees just as the leaves were turning several weeks back.  This view I enjoyed from my garage.  I never got around to finishing it after removing the masquing a long time ago.  So, tonight, I laid in some more washes to take away from the starkness of the previously masqued areas, and then drew in some more trunks and branches.

Tomorrow offers more opportunity as I close out the semester and return to the studio.

Thanks for reading.