Plein Air, actually outside

Deer Island Plein Air Sketch

Part of why I failed to make more significant progress on Slater's Mills, yesterday, is because I went with friends to paint at Deer Island, in the Merrimack River, between Newburyport and Amesbury. Knowing that there would be long grass along the shore, I chose to tint an 8" x 16" canvas a reasonably strong shade of burnt orange (Old Holland Transparent Red Oxide).

At the site, I spent about an hour on the grisaille. As you can see, when I wiped out several bits I got right back down to white canvas. Usually I would let the tint dry overnight, and then paint in the field on a dry canvas. But this time the spontaneous decision to go to Deer Island precluded that. We work with what we have, oui? 

Nonetheless, because I didn't want the still-wet orange color to mix with the other colors which I would subsequently use, I decided to stop at this stage, and to wait for the surface to dry before I really began to paint.

This morning, it was entirely dry and I could begin to get some real color onto the canvas in the studio. If you're wondering why I wrote that I chose the orange tint because of the long grass, have a look at the post a few days ago about sgraffito. I knew that I could get some of the texture of the grass, warmed as it was by the afternoon sun, by scratching through my top layers. The newly-revealed, thin orange lines would give the effect I wanted.

There's still some more to do in the studio, but this begins to tell the story of this section of the Merrimack on a lovely July afternoon.

Happy Painting!

Plein Air Sketch

Sgraffito, and Reflected Light

Here's an oil plein-air sketch from two weeks ago. Several friends and I had a rendezvous at the former home of Chauncey Ryder, in Wilton, New Hampshire. My first post, on 29 February this year, was a birthday salute to Chauncey, a long-time favorite artist. 

I posted the grisaille for this 8x12" canvas on Facebook at the time, but I've only now got around to working on the canvas in color.

Here's a detail, followed by the whole oil sketch. I've put in the detail as a reminder of the effects that you can get with sgraffito. 

In this case, the canvas had been toned with transparent red oxide (Old Holland). This yields an orange surface, often ideal for landscapes in sunlight. 

This time, however, I was interested in the reflected light, from the sunny lawn, that was bouncing up onto the shadowed front of the house. Each of the bottom edges of the clapboards received the thinnest sliver of warm light.

If you look carefully, you will see how a few scratches with the wrong-end of the brush have exposed bits of the orange under-color. Although no attempt has been made to put in all the clapboards, the general effect of bouncing light is nonetheless suggested.

The same technique can be valuable in shadow masses and among grasses in pastures and meadows. 

Try it!