Plein Air Painting demo
by Wendy Manning
I keep a mini-kit in the car year-round, so if I'm
waiting, say, for my daughter to get her braces tightened, I can do a plein air
of whatever is nearby. I have a whole series of plein airs done in parking lots!
My mini-kit is a waist pack from the Northlight Book Club. The captions pretty
much explain what's in it. The paper and panels are toned a variety of colors
and covered with pumice ground.
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In the winter I just use that pack and it stays in the car. Now that it's warm enough to do more plein airs I have transferred it to an insulated backpack that is also a stool. So in addition to the mini-kit, I now carry the complete box of Cray-Pas Specialists, a sunhat, apron, larger paper and panels, roll of paper towels, wipes, bug repellant and a clipboard. I can tramp around with it on my back and sit and paint wherever. I also have a lawn chair in the car, which I can get out if I'm not going too far from the car; then the stool becomes a table to hold my stuff.
The Tracks
demo
Photo 1. I was waiting here for my family who were biking on a
trail, and had almost 2 hours. The photo does no justice to the brilliant
display of wildflowers in the foreground.
Photo 2. 5x7 soft green mat board covered with clear Golden Pastel Ground. I'm not comfortable with buildings, and want to practice painting them.
Photo 3. I under paint the darks and lights and push them into the tooth with a wipe-out tool (or you could use a color-shaper or a white eraser that come in clickable pen form- like a mechanical pencil.)
Photo 4. The result. I like the side with the barn best and might do another painting of just that half.
Victoria-By-The-Sea demo
Photo 1. The view looked best from the seat of my van, so that's where I worked.
Photo 2. Sketched with a white charcoal pencil on 8x10 matboard with clear pumice ground. Since it is fairly dark, the lightest areas are under painted with white, and blended into the tooth with a wipe-out tool.
Photo 3. Darks are under painted with violet.
Photo 4. Detail of trees.
The finished painting, "Victoria-By-The-Sea"
