OIL & PLEIN AIR ART CREATION
I captured my process on this 12x12" oil for students during the Plien Air Smokies art competition in Sept. 2022. Iinvited artists had a week to complete as many paintings as we could. No photographic reference was allowed to complete any artwork, regardless of conditions, or we were disqualified. The event was held in the Smoky Mountains National Park, TN. The Cades Cove area is know for it's fantastic wide vistas, and beautiful forest and streams.
I think this is a valuable learning tool for students in several ways. Beginners can see that it's not about the 'right' answer, it's about the process and trying ideas, anyone can do it - you just have to try. Intermediate and advanced students can see how to push a painting to be the best version of itself, and benefit from my strategies on how to pivot with time and performance pressure. I show how and why I pick a scene. To some degree Plein Air Events are an extreme condition with high risk and pressure to perform, but it's a good challenge to meet this head on and do the job anyway. In hindsight, I'm surprised I was able to capture this true process of ugly starts and disappointing moments during plein air. All art goes through an awkward stage and in this concise video you get to see 3 potential paintings, many awkward stages, and 1 finish!
To note: there were no preliminary studies (I had no time for this and have trained myself to mostly work without during an event). There were no special colors added, any of the other demos in the program will show you typical mixes and my palette. See Fundamentals Landscape and Oil videos for more on palette color mixes and value.
WATERCOLOR PROCESS
1) Start with your 'lights and brights'. This will be the water glitter (use wax resist to preserve the white or even a small piece of tape). Put in bright dots of orange and yellow leaves for the backlit tree in the upper left. 2) Next focus on mid-tones (the stream, shore and background), try to do this wet in wet and 'cut around' most of your bright chips of color. Don't fuss if you mess up and cover some brights/lights, that's normal to 'eat some up' in the process. Do not worry about the stream edge now this would be a pitfall to draw an edge to the water. 3) Place some rich darks in and try to 'destroy' the edge of at least one corner and integrated this shape with an adjacent one. 4) Lift out dry paint with a damp brush and paper towel to soften any over-crispy lines or incorrect value. 5) Glaze with a wash to tone or darken. 6) Re-establish bright highlights 2 ways... pick out white highlights with a razor tip, or use thick gouache.
I plan to make a water media video of this demo to compare process, stay tuned for an update soon!
Next time you want to give up on your oil, just don't! Have a 'test' painting that you revisit. Try to tinker with it or do radical things such as scrape and repaint. Use a painting to push yourself creatively. Let go of the constant need for the end goal and enjoy the process of creating and exploring. Of course we all want a finish and sometimes it seems very far away. This video shows sometimes it's closer than you think!