Why Plein Air?

The immediate response to that, of course, is "WHY NOT?" and there are a lot more why nots then there are whys, but let's first define terms.  I've worked a few galleries in my time and have always been relieved when approached by a client who knows what plein air means.  Simply it was a term used about the Impressionists' proclivity to paint "outside" and means "in the fresh air" or painting on site, and that opens up a whole bunch of problems that I'll go into in future entries. 

Plein air, for me, consists of totally immersing yourself in the act of painting - without hesitation, almost without thought - listening/smelling/feeling the environment - sand under your feet/sun on your face/breeze in your hair - and painting with abandon until the session is complete.  I have coordinated the West Hawaii Plein Air Painters for the last six or seven years.  We usually paint on Fridays in the morning because the light is better here coming over the mountain in the morning to our backs (face to the Pacific) and gradually clouding over to a glare around 1p.  The encouragement, then, is to paint from 9a to 12:30p and FINISH THE PAINTING!!! An alla prima experience of the best kind.  That's the philosophy of it, the mechanics and logistics of it are a lot more complicated then that - what to take - what to do without - easel?  and on and on - stay tuned and we'll travel along this path together, I've got a lot to say that I've never said so this should be a good journey for both of us.

Aloha nui loa,

richard

click image for gallery

CURSES . . . SKOILED AGAIN ! ! !

Two from last night. This first a memory from a squall I noticed late in the afternoon - unusual because it was done on white canvas:

late afternoon squall - 9x6 - plein air skoil

 Bought some big absurdly fat cooking bananas the other day - paint them today - eat them tomorrow!

red band - 9x6 - plein air skoil

Don't forget the BIG SHOW in Hilo - go support an artist or two.

MaGoon's Skoils

Finally managed to "manage" my time and enthusiasm to produce two fairly quick sketches in oils (skoils) over the course of the West Hawaii Plein Air Painters session yesterday. I like doing the small quick sketches because they give me time to focus on just one aspect of the scene, or the mechanism of painting, and still produce a cohesive painting.  On both of these I used a wedge shaped 1/2" wide flat "Catalyst" brand synthetic - my new best friend and available at the new ARTSHOP - AKAMAI ART SUPPLIES - go visit.

Emphasis here is on transparent water/morning light:

mahai'ula bay - 9x6 - plein air skoil

maui from mahai'ula bay - 9x6 - plein air skoil

From two weeks ago - another WHPAP session at the Old Airport:

little pake hat - 9x6 - plein air skoil

First Annual Big Island Plein Air Painters Show

Some of us from West Hawaii Plein Air Painters made the journey across the newly improved and almost mainland "saddle" the other day to deliver paintings for a HUGE show of art in Hilo's Wailoa Pavillion. the show includes 40 or so Plein Air Artists from all over the island - 12 "Official" members of the WHPAP. here's the flyer and i hope you can make it - the month of January, reception 5p friday:

Have you ever skoiled?

new skoil from a few weeks ago - still working on water this year - 

"kaloko ponds" - 9x6 - plein air skoil

Lavern

Finally photographed some of the paintings i finished last week - will post them later. this one painted with the WHPAP at that little park at the inlet to Honokohau Harbor last Friday. Unearthly color always here first thing in the morning. Caught Lavern on her way into the office - she's bigger then i thought.  - knifed in the rocks on this one:

"Lavern, punching the time clock" - 11x14 - plein air oils

Lavern is the eight foot tiger shark that hangs around the Honokohau small boat marina - she was being hasseled a few weeks ago by some neandrathal kids and made it to YouTube.

Kaloko Ponds 2 - First Stage - Oils

Lately I've been starting pieces by sketching a real rough "road map" of the scene with a brush in cadmium red (long story on how that came about - some other post, maybe) and then start adding viridian green and/or dyoxinine purple and alizarin crimson to start dashing in the darknessess.  My four rules of applying paint are, to work:

1. dark to light
2. thin to thick
3. transparent to opaque
4. big to little

A few weeks ago we went out to Kaloko Ponds and I produced one painting with the first stage done in acrylics, and the first stage of another bigger painting done in oils.

Kaloko Ponds Wall 1 - plein air oils - 8x8

Kaloko Ponds Wall 2 - plein air oils - 11x14

I've been using colored grounds for years, mostly yellow, and the colour de jour is Valspar, Mello Mustard, exterior house paint - good stuff!   The stones in the wall were created by wiping the paint away with a paper towel and you can see the stones and underwater (eventually) stuffs and the short beach in the lower right hand corner.  I've scheduled the group for the ponds tomorrow and will post either the end of stage two, or the final painting when i get it done.

Six Who Passed While the Skoils Boiled

Okok - the title doesn't make sense, but i like the alliteration.  I just can't help sharing these things.  Once again - Skoils are SKetches in OILS - 6x9 on loose canvas.

clouds and clouds - early morning over Hualalai:

keauhou bay

Come paint with me and us - West Hawaii Plein Air Painters every Friday.

More Skoils for you?

SKOILS are SKetches in OILS, painted in one go (ala prima) and completed in about 45 minutes on loose canvas - 6x9 size (because that's half of a full sheet of loose canvas).  Here are some:

City of Refuge - 6x9 - plein air skoil

Another painting session with the West Hawaii Plein Air Painters - this one turned out to be a tailgate party and we had two guest painters show up, neither of us knowing the other was going to be there.  Nice when that happens.

Hualalai Clouds over the pele grass - 9x6 plein air skoil

Out solo on this one - in the mornings the grass out here between the National Energy Lab and Queen K glows with some kind of inner light - didn't get it this time - maybe next  . . . 

YouTube Painting Demonstrations

That symbol means  
CAUTION - EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL TO FOLLOW : 
and this time it's painting demonstrations on YOU TUBE.  And everyone that has a camera is here (including yours truly) with their "fool proof, easy, gonna change your life" methods in water colors, oils, acrylics, pastels, and stuff you've never heard of - here are some of the good guys:

Richard Robinson  
One of my favorites, stylistically and tempermentally - easy to understand and listen to and dedicated to the fine points of plein air and quick fresh studio work as well.  He also has a newsletter service and some "private" free lessons that you can participate in as well as a free e-book that i'll give you the address for later.
Richard's main YouTube channel - you can access most of his  teaching videos from here - there's also a link to his website, which i reccommend:

http://www.youtube.com/user/rvalentinorobinson?feature=watch

Here's the link to the Hawaii e-book - it's free - download it and think about doing one of yourown:
http://www.livepaintinglessons.com/Hawaiibook/

Paul Taggard
I love this guy and admire his perserverance and doggedness and hate his perserverence and doggedness!! And/but he explains things clearly and over and over again so that you can't help but eventually "get it".  His instruction videos are "all media" so just take your choice and settle in for a real "journey".
Paul's channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/artworkshopwithpaul
there's a link here to his website as well, but there's more than enough choices at this location to keep busy for a long time.

I've watched a lot of these videos and will try to add to this list in the future - if you've got some of your own favorites, let me know.

richard

Kaloko Ponds Painting Session Photos

. . . are located here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/113997414112254740144/albums/5915046968626108193