Plein Air Painting in a Park

11" x 14" oil on panel

The second plein air session with my group of student painters was held in another park-- one with beautiful ponds-- George Bible Park in Bryan, Ohio.

Flower Painting

I am working with some beginner and intermediate painters, teaching them a little about plein air painting. We get together when we can and paint. The first time we painted in a public park with lots of gorgeous flowers, so the natural choice for me to paint was flowers.

Central Park Flowers

9" x `12" oil on panel

Seasonal Subject

Last night I did a demo at an art opening for the annual Black Swamp Art Guild show. The reception was scheduled for 6-7:30pm so I knew I had to choose a simple subject that I could paint in about an hour. Even though I spent a lot of time talking to people I had to stretch this piece to make it last an hour. A small orange gourd, paired with a complimentary green napkin and lots of thick paint creates a nice little still life and a good way to pass the time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, painting is just a pleasant pastime, and it builds a lot more cognitive receptors in your brain than sitting in front of the TV.

Orange Gourd 6"x6" oil on Gessoboard

Acrylic Painting Class in Bryan

I'm doing a four week painting class in Bryan and we started off all painting the same thing. I did a Powerpoint presentation showing the painting step-by-step and gave them some info on color and how to block in and we were off an running. Next week they get to choose from flowers or a landscape. I like to have them all do the same thing the first night so I can get an idea of how much experience they have. The subject was a rowboat with Ocracoke Lighthouse int he background. Everyone did quite well!

My version of the painting we did is below.

Composition and Simple Subjects

I teach a few art classes and workshops every year so I am always trying to come up with "easy" ways to approach simple subjects. I use these exercises for the first class to give everyone a bit of confidence. It's my firm opinion that a painter with confidence and a big brush will create a better painting than a hesitant painter with a small brush (or any size brush).

Fruits and other organic subjects are deceptively simple subjects. I still have these pears because we haven't munched our way through them yet and I never get tired of doing still life paintings. So I set up another composition using my favorite fruit and did a quick 45 minute study this morning. It was important to be able to paint this quickly because I want the students to be able to start and finish their piece in one 2 hour session. I usually give them a photograph of the finished painting so they can see how my version turned out and a choice of photographs of the still life set up. I begin the class with a 15 minute demonstration on how to approach the painting, leaving them with a couple hours to do their piece.

The first class in this session starts Tuesday, October 2 at the Bryan Community Center on Buffalo Road in Bryan, Ohio. Classes will be held from 6-8:30 PM for four consecutive Tuesdays. Contact Cindy Rau at crau@cityofbryan.net to register for the classes or obtain more information. This is an oil or acrylic class and there is a $30 supply fee payable to me the first night of class.

Perfect Pears

6" x 6"

Sometimes I will check the composition using the "THRESHOLD" function

in Photoshop, which reduces the values to black and white and creates a simulated ink drawing.

If the black areas match my initial block in I know I have

remained faithful to the initial concept. I was pretty close with this one.

A Rant About New Business Ventures

I am getting a little behind on posting the plein air pieces from Michigan. There is never enough time to do everything you want to do. Yesterday I worked all day, dropped off paintings to (better leave this unnamed) a new gallery in Swanton, then drove to Bryan for an impromptu art show with the Williams County Art Guild on the courthouse lawn. The initial impression at the gallery was not too pleasant, although the space is lovely and elegant. But I may not be able to do business with them and I'll tell you why. When I arrived at his door with my paintings the owner did not have a consignment agreement ready. In fact, he had absolutely no paperwork on hand. I was sort of prepared for that as I knew this was all new to him, but still.... it made me stop and think about what I was getting into. So I had quickly pulled together a contract of my own that I had copied from the internet and amended a bit. He instantly balked at signing it- calling it "so much legalese". The real issue seemed to be the fact that I wanted to be sure he had insurance to cover my paintings. The contract also stipulated the basics of when and how often I would be paid if a piece sold and that the copyright for the art belonged to  me. That's it... fairly standard stuff. Or at least it seemed pretty standard compared to what I have worked with in the past. Apparently it was not-- to him! Why would I leave thousands of dollars worth of work somewhere without a contract or assurance that I would be compensated if his building burned down? I did a bit of research before writing this agreement and galleries generally have insurance to cover their contents if there is a loss. He did not feel like purchasing any, although he would happily take a commission for allowing my art to decorate his walls.

I left the paintings but I will  pick them up and take them to the Silver Lining Gallery tomorrow if he does not come up with a contract that we can both agree on. Questions I need to have answered include: Is he is willing to treat this as a legitimate business venture? Is this the kind of person I want representing me? Currently he seems to think he is doing artists a favor by allowing them to hang their art on his walls. There is surely a lesson here for me. I think it might be that first impressions do matter. When I first met the owner I was a bit dismayed with his organizational skills. He also didn't seem to have any idea how to judge the quality of professional art. He seriously thought if it had a boat or water in it that was a good painting. One thing I do know is this: you need to be comfortable with the people you do business with and I have not reached that stage with the owner of this gallery yet.

Here is a small 8"x10" painting I did last night on the town square in Bryan. They had a bluegrass band playing and some spectators were sitting in lawn chairs listening to the music. I found this guy pretty interesting. Maybe it was the beard or maybe it was the hat. Either way, you have to paint what intrigues you.

He stayed for an hour and I was just finishing the painting when he got up and left. This is a piece I will list in my eBay store for starting bid of $9.95 as a loss leader to get some views. And I won't feel awfully disappointed if it sells for that.

Bluegrass Fan

8" x 10"