Plein Air - Harvest Moon Flower Farm

© Robin Edmundson, 'Greenhouses - Harvest Moon Farm', watercolor, 9 x 12 inches. 
Framed to 11 x 14 inches.  $280.

This has been a good year for plein air painting for me.  I don't get out a lot, but when I do, I have a lot of fun and learn a lot as well. 

The trickiest part about plein air painting is the light.  Of course.  It moves.  Plus, the heat dries the paint really fast.  I find that I can get a good basic draft done on site, but have to finesse the darks back in the studio, to get the light effect I'm after. 

These greenhouses are at Harvest Moon Farm - a lovely place!   I took Claire with me that day and we had just enough time to get done as the shade moved and we were baking in the sun.   That's when it's time to stop. 

Plein Air at Duckworth Farm

© Robin Edmundson, 'Duckworth Barn', plein air, watercolor, 10 x 14 inches. 

I've been practicing more plein air painting this year.  Claire has been going with me.  We try to arrive as early as we can, then walk a bit, choose our view and get settled where we will have a few hours of shade.  We work side by side in silence.  It's lovely.  I get most of a piece done in just over 2 hours, then it's time to let it dry.   The next day I can look at it with fresh eyes and add the darkest darks.  I'm pleased at how satisfying the process is.

This piece is 10 x 14 inches.  Matted and framed to 18 x 22 inches.  $375.

Goose Pond, February Fields - Plein Air

© Robin Edmundson, 'Goose Pond, February Fields - Plein Air', watercolor, 9 x 12 inches.

I went to Goose Pond again a few days ago and was so happy that the sun was shining this time.  Also, there were thousands and thousands of sandhill cranes that kept flying over.   I love that.   

My goal for these plein air sessions is to be able to focus enough to quickly find a composition from the vast landscape, get the drawing and painting going and to finish within 2 1/2 hours.   I did this one in under 2 hours and am pretty happy with the composition.   Practice, practice, practice!

Goose Pond, Ducks - Plein Air

© Robin Edmundson, 'Goose Pond, Ducks - plein air', watercolor, 9 x 12 inches. 

At the beginning of the month, I spent another wonderful morning painting the view of the marshes from the visitors center at Goose Pond. Things are starting to rev up for the season. I could hear thousands of cranes, geese and ducks. This is the view toward the north. There was quite a bit more water in the ponds this time and the ducks were taking full advantage. I saw hundreds flying in and around these few ponds.

Plein Air

I've found a lovely place to do some plein air work this year.   The Goose Pond Visitors Center in Linton, Indiana has a beautiful perch on the top of a hill with great views on three sides.  Plenty of windows so I can paint in shelter and warm for the rest of the winter.   I'm hoping to get over there a couple of times a month.

While I was painting this, the rain rolled in and several flocks of geese and cranes flew over.   It's a wonderful place.   I'm excited to make this a regular part of my painting routine.

Hives, Plein Air - redux

© Robin Edmundson, 'Beehives - Plein Air', 18 x 22 inches framed.  

Getting feedback is a powerful thing.   I was showing this piece to my plein air group and someone who was there during the actual painting of the thing mentioned that I hadn't put in the handles on the boxes [See that version in this post].   I had left them out because the piece was so busy anyway, but I thought about her comment a lot and asked the family for more opinions and the feedback was that they'd be better understood as hives if I put in the handles.

So I did.

I like this better.  Do you?


Framed, 18 x 22 inches.  $350.  Come see it in person at the show.

Griffy Lake Plein Air

Griffy Lake, May.  ©Robin Edmundson, Watercolor on paper, 10 x 14 inches.
$350.  Framed 16 x 20 inches.

I have joined the local Plein Air group and have been excited to find that I enjoy plein air painting very much.   I painted this one at Griffy Lake in Bloomington last week to the accompaniment of bird song, soft rain [for just 5 minutes] and the chatter of 150 4th graders.

Let me just tell you that 4th graders are a huge ego-boost.   Every time a group would go by, someone would call out, 'Wow.  You're a really good artist!'.    So sweet!   Let's just hope they grow up to be art buyers as well as art appreciators.

At any rate, I'm trying to really reach for new color possibilities and I liked the way these purple trees turned out.   I'm excited to do more plein air painting with this terrific group.  

T C Steele September Paint Out 2016

Last weekend, Claire and I got up before dawn to drive an hour to the T C Steele State Historical Site in Belmont, Indiana [just east of Nashville, In] to participate in our first paint-out.   It was dark.   It was lightening and thundering.  It was breezy.  It was exciting.

A paint out is an organized plein air painting day.   Lots of artists participate.   This one had judging and prizes at the end of the day.

Claire and I had planned and prepped and then traveled to be there early so we could find a good spot and finish before the rain.   We had raincoats and umbrellas; our gear was packed in heavy duty tubs that we could sit on out of the mud.

After checking in and getting our paper stamped to prove we hadn't started early, we chose a spot on the hill between the red barn studio and the DeWar cabin.   I faced the barn, Claire faced the cabin.    And we started.

It sprinkled a tiny bit, but no rain.  It was an amazing experience to be drawing with Claire at dawn, painting as it got lighter, listening to the breeze, the birds, the trees.   Claire finished first.   I took another hour or so because I had chosen a complicated composition.

When we were done, we went to Nashville for lunch, then came back to have our paintings judged.

My painting had some big problems.   The right side was great, but the left bottom was too empty and there was a big black hole in the upper left.    I took an Honorable Mention anyway.   Lucky!

Claire took 2nd place in the teen division.    So proud!!

When I got home, I took another look at my painting and decided it was a good opportunity to practice fixing.   I cropped off about an inch and a half of the left side.  I lightened up the top left corner background trees a lot.   I darkened the lower left below the row of shrubs and I added a couple more big rocks.  That's the pic you see at the top.   I'm pretty happy with it.   It's an iconic view of the TC Steele property and a fabulous memento of the day.

All in all, it was such a good experience that Claire and I are planning on doing the Bloomington Paint Out on the IU campus in October.    No prizes that day, but we're dying to paint the cemetery there.   [Pun unintended.]

Plein Air Painting

So in my recent quest to do some things outside my comfort zone, I took a recent opportunity to spend a few hours painting in the great outdoors when I went to Michigan.   After the long drive from home, I spent some time walking the grounds at Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles, Michigan.  

Fernwood is a lovely place with both formal and informal garden areas, a cafe, and a gift shop.  There are miles of paths that wind down and around the river, creeks, ravines, prairies, buildings, etc.   I knew I'd find a good place to paint so I packed my painting bag and braved myself up to paint outside and maybe with an audience.

I took an hour to wander around and look and then decided that I'd go to the platform in the middle of the tall grass prairie and paint there where the light was interesting, things were blooming and the features were challenging.  Challenges are good.    I lucked out in that no one else was there and I was able to do my first plein air painting sans audience.   Whew.

The thing about prairies is that there's not a lot of structure to paint.  It's a field - and with the breeze and intermittent clouds it was like painting a moving target.   I had to choose my view carefully and emphasize what structure was there so the painting would at least make sense, then observe carefully and just go for it.  

And I did it!   Yay!    It's not a great painting by any measure, but I did it, outside, in the breeze and sun and clouds, in an hour and a half, in less than ideal circumstances.   And it was such an interesting experience, that I will likely do it again.    There's a paint-out at T C Steele property in Brown County in September.   I think I need to go do that one.