Monday, November 15, 2010

Day Three, at Mt. Evans

The final day of Don Sahli's plein air class was west of Evergreen, with a fine view of Mt. Evans.

Mt. Evans, oil 20" x 24":

This was the warmest day and we just enjoyed ourselves, painting in the sun. I didn't set up on purpose to get Diane and Weatherly in the picture, but there they were, and remembering Don Sahli's painting of me yesterday I just proceeded.

Between our first and second pictures Don showed us how he carries canvases in his car, on custom plywood racks. He had a 30" x 40" canvas handy, to show us how large a canvas the French easel will take, and even larger.

He likes big oil paintings, and doesn't limit himself to small canvases to begin with.

I used a cool blue turpentine wash to begin my first painting, and learned how much that initial wash affects the temperature of your entire painting. After this I'm sticking with warm washes, although on my second painting I used a green wash that I won't use again.

Red Barn near Evergreen, oil 20" x 24":



I thank Don Sahli for the great painting experience. I'm pleased with all I learned, and happy with what I produced. And I'm looking forward to producing more on my (not-so-new-now) French easel.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Lair o' the Bear Day Two

Day two of Don Sahli's plein air oil painting class was also in the Lair o' the Bear, where beautiful views along Bear Creek abounded. We went a little ways downstream from yesterday. I finished my first painting, with Don's help, by noon.

Lair o' the Bear 3, oil 20" x 24":

As I was painting in the upper left area Don said, "Make that darker, I know you're going to put white on top of that. Look at that fallen tree." He took my brush and produced a deep purple, which he quickly used to draw in the fallen tree and the area around it, and repeated that color on the water to the lower left. Finally he quickly pointed to the sky and painted that color in two wavy spots on the water in the middle of the painting. I complimented him on not referring to those as reflections, but only as colors and values.

Don gave a class to begin this day, where he showed how to lay out the major views of the scene before us on his canvas.

He counted about 5-7 major areas, with the sky and the water clearly defined, and particular trees, fields, groups of foliage and the hills all had clear places in his initial sketched layout.

Then he went straight for the darkest darks.

He gave brief critiques of everyone's work from the day before. He complimented me on "how loose" I was with oils. "You obviously know what you're doing." he said. "But your problem--we all have problems--is that you pixelate, on and on." He said to make more contrasting areas, smooth as well as pixelated, horizontal and well as vertical. He compared me with Seurat.

My vest was a gift from Judy that I'd seldom worn, but now it was handy for warmth, and for keeping my paper towels and trash bags handy. To keep the trash bag from flapping around in the wind I literally tied it to myself, and was prepared to stuff it into one big pocket. Don made me keep a role of paper towels handy.

I set up for my second picture directly in Don's view. So he put me in his painting, answering my earlier question about if he put people in his paintings.

He said, "Jack saved my painting."

Lair o' the Bear by Don Sahli, oil 20" x 24":


When I completed my second painting, drawing some trees red as is my wont, he commented "Kinda red, white and blue, but it works."

Lair o' the Bear 4, oil 20" x 24":



Next post: Day Three

Plein Air Oil Painting Class

My Late Fall Plein Air Oil Painting class taught by Don Sahli was Nov. 3-6, three gorgeous days in the foothills west of Denver. Don lives in Evergreen, and he took us to 2 different favorite locations near his home.

Lair o' the Bear

The first two days were at Lair o' the Bear county park, in Bear Creek Canyon. There were five of us total, and Don had us set our French easels near his.

Don Sahli:

It was a treat to get to watch him paint. I like the way he draws the major parts of his picture on top of a turpentine wash, going for the darkest darks at the very first.

He averaged three paintings a day, and while all of us were really trying to crank these oil sketches out, the best I could manage was two paintings a day. It was watching him that helped me produce my first painting.

Lair o' the Bear 1, oil 20" x 24":

The first day started out cold, but Don said that plein air painters have to be ready for all kinds of weather in Colorado. The sun finally came out and that's all you need in Colorado, most days are sunny in fact.

Don began each day with a class. His instruction was succinct: "Train your eye to see the pieces of nature, of form, color and shape."


His three stages of painting are:
80% abstract -- Block in related color spots.
15% modeling - describe the forms.
5% detail - find the darkest darks and the lightest lights.

Among the students in Don Sahli's class was Weatherly Stroh:

If I had the idea that plein air painters were all impressionists, I was wrong. I complimented Sahli on his abstract approach, emphasizing color, value and temperature.

His three rules are:
ALWAYS start in the darkest dark.
Warm light has cool shadows.
Cool light has warm shadows.

As I was completing my second picture, he took my paint brush and showed me what he actually wanted me to do on the canvas, which was to flatten some of the pixelating I was doing. "Make more contrast in your areas of paint," he said. And he put a quick flash of yellow oil in the right side of the picture, next to the tree, which he liked.

Lair o' the Bear 2, oil 20" x 24":



The two other students in Don's class were Shellie Dunham:



And Diane Spickert:


I helped Diane set up on the second day, and on the third day we painted next to each other in the afternoon. She missed the first day of class, but Don has invited her to spend a day in his studio class in Evergreen. She is a retired geologist, and the author of a children's book: Earthsteps: A Rock's Journey through Time - Paperback (Mar. 1, 2010) by Diane Nelson Spickert and Marianne D. Wallace, available through Amazon.com.

Next post: Day Two

Monday, November 1, 2010

One More Hour of Painting

I've finished my practice 3-day class in preparation for my real 3-day plein air painting class that begins in just a couple days in Denver. I wanted to be sure to be able to set my easel up at 9 a.m. all 3 mornings. Here's how it went:
The first morning it rained, and the next 2 mornings was below freezing at 9 a.m. It has not hardly rained here in the past 2 1/2 months, and had not yet frozen, until my practice class. I can only hope my real class will be better. I showed you the painting I started that first day. All I needed was one more hour of painting to get it to where I liked it. In the next couple days I did get one more hour in, and here's the result.

Garden of the Gods, oil sketch, 20" x 24":
It took me 2 1/2 hours total. If I can just get 2 or 3 pictures like that a day in my class then I'll be happy.
I didn't go outside to paint again after the first hour and a half before it rained the first day. By that afternoon the rain had turned to sleet and then snow. The mountains had 2 feet of snow that day.
The second day at least was sunny, but it stayed below freezing til 10 a.m. and had a hard, cold wind. I could not have got out that day to paint, since I needed a winter jacket and I was unwilling to trash my good ones. So instead of painting I went to ARC to get a jacket for $6. That made it possible for me to get out the 3rd morning, even though it was so cold. That day was sunny and warmed up nicely.
But I have to admit, on that first day I set up my French easel in my studio to dry out, and I proceeded to actually make a Garden of the Gods still life, and that's where I painted one more hour.

My new studio:
My new easel and pallette got well broken in by the time I was done:

I love how the new easel fits so well into my old studio, with the bright light flooding in on my painting. I can see that I'll still have lots of fun in my studio this winter as we're waiting to put our home on the market in the spring.
I'll keep you informed about my class.