Plein Air Painting as a Beginner with Acrylics

Hello everyone!  Have you been thinking about paintingin plein air or outdoors.  Perhaps you been desiring to paint your flowers outdoors, your tree in yout yard, your garden, your car or truck, your bike, skateboard your lawn mower your shoes in plein air or perhaps your home your backyard, neighborhood on your street or even your local park.

Here are things you need to know before you start your first plein painting.

1. YOUR SUPPLIES

French Easel

Stay Wet Palette

YOUR BRUSHES

It is best to use a large flat brush at the beginning of your painting to block in all your dark shapes such as your shadows first because the light shifts about every 7 to 10 minutes especially in the evenings and mornings.

1. Flat Brush        2. Filbert Brush        3. Round Brush        4. Liner Brush

YOUR TIME FRAME TO PAINT IN PLEIN AIR

As a beginner it is very important to paint close to noon from 11:30am till 12:30 for about one hour.  One hour is reasonable time to paint in a small size of  8"x10" scale or even smaller 5"x 7".

1. Morning

2. Noon

3. Evenings

OUTDOOR TEMPERATURE

It is very important to paint in temperatures as a beginner that is comfortable.  Good temperature range to paint in plein air is from 65 to 75 degrees with less wind as possible.  However, the highest tempts I've ever painted in was 90 degrees in June of 2020.  I was very uncomfortable and sweeting a lot.  I had put a tee shirt and I put it over my head to keep me cool.  I had not checked the weather forecast on that day.  I encourage you to watch the weather forecast before heading out to paint in plein air.

You now know now what to do and what to expect when you go out and paint in plein air.  I advise you to write out a check list of supplies before you go out and paint in plein air.   I hope this post has been a help to you as a beginner.  Thank you.

Winter View a Painting done in Plein Air

©dweaverart

On Sunday Feburary 14, 2021 a very powerful winter storm Uri came into the deep south and produced freezing rain, sleet and snow.  On Wednesday night the same week another winter storm came into the south named Viola and dump a whole lot of snow.  On Thursday the following day that afternoon I painted a shed that was in the snow.  I went and got prepared to paint in plein air.  I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to paint the snow in plein air something I have never done in the snow.  In this photo you see my plein air set up.  I use a homemade stay wet palette and a french easel which was given to me as a gift.  I have a wooden board in dimension of 12"x20" that I place the underneath the stay wet palette. 

 

Whenever I paint in plein air I work with a limited palette.  A limited palette is a arrangement of primary color with white how ever I add a raw umber in order to get as close as possible to a black.  As a artist painting in plein air time is critical because of the light of the sun.  In this case there was no sunlight at all it was an overcast day.  The colors seen in nature under a overcast sky are muted ( desaturated ).  The colors are not as vivid and saturated than under a sunny sky.  

The most important reason for using a limited palette your color will harmonize more naturally.  Also less color you have to carry or bring to your scene to paint.  My limit palette are starting at the top from left to right are cadmium yellow light, yellow ochre, cadmium red medium.  The bottom half from left to right phthalocyannine blue, titanium white and raw umber.

8"x10"

This is a photo of my color ground or color stain of the stretched canvas.  I paint with acrylic so all the colors I use is acylic paint which is water base paint.  I used a spray bottle of water and saturated the canvas and mixed the colors of paint on the wet canvas.  The colors for the ground are cadmium red medium and phthalocyannine blue.

8"x10"

After I applied the wet color to the canvas I used a dry old rag and wiped the color all over the canvas to stain it.  This is how the canvas will looks like after the color is wiped into the stretched canvas.

©dweaverart

I want to show you the reference photo right beside the picture of the painting.  The reason I want to share this with you without the colors is because of the value.  As artist who paint in the style of realism must understand the value stucture which influences to color mixing.  Value is the light and darkness of a color.  When you take away the color and make it black white and grays you began to see the ranges of value in your subject.

©dweaverart

Here is the finished painting of the subject.  You can see the shed the fence in the lower right side of the painting the smaller shed to the left with snow on it's roof and the trees in the painting.  I used a flat brush #10 to block in the large shapes.  It is very important when you paint in plein air to block in all the large shapes the darks first to the lighter value.  I also used a small round brush to refine the large shapes.  Finally, I used a palette knife to brake up the large area of space both negive and positive space in the compostion.  Give me your feed back on this painting or if you are interested in purchasing this painting then email me at dweaver15@gmail.com  You can also direct message me on Instagram @dweaverart and on facebook @dweaverart.  Thank you.

 

Winter Barn in Plein Air

© dweaverart

I had been watching the weather forecast for the week and the meterologist had forecasted for warm weather.  I had got of from work and I said to myself I'm going to paint today.  I did not plan on painting. It was unseasonally warm for Feburary.  I went home and mixed my paints as I always do for a limited palette.  I got all my supplies needed to paint in plein air and lefted the house to paint.  There was just off the road a train crossing but I was not in a good place to paint in plein air do to privacy.  I went further on down the road and crossed the highway and found a good location to paint.  I shouldn't be picky about locations to paint at but when I don't feel it or it is unsafe to paint there I will not paint.  I usually look for places that have a great center of interest with some verticals.  I wanted to arive there before the clouds rolled in.  My goal was to paint the light and shadow but the sun had went behind the clouds.  The weather conditions became overcast.  I was determined to paint something.  I found a barn in a distant field off the road and I painted it. 

© dweaverart

Whenever I paint in plein air I paint using acrylics.  I took the time to prepare to plein air paint even though it was on the spur of the moment.  I had premixed my colors limited in colors going from left to right at the top of my palette raw umber, phthalocyanine blue, and cadmium medium red.  Now from the bottom going from righ to left is titanium white, cadmium yellow light, and yellow orche.  I used a palette knife and used some slow drying medium to premix the paint. 

© dweaverart

I was pleased with the outcome even though I did not have much time to paint.  I took me 40 minutes to paint this painting.  I had stained the canvas with yellow orche.  All my colores where dulled down using other color instead of straight out of the tube because they are too rich or vibrant in intensity.  Whenever I paint in plein air my goal is to be loose as possible.  The brushes I used to create this painting where a round brush, flat, filbert and a liner brush.  Despite the time of the day it was very rewarding just to get out doors and paint.

Lady with the Blue Face

Lady with Blue Face 24"x30"

Lately I been inspired to shift my painting style when it comes to painting portraits.  I am now going to be more free and loose at the under painting stage with loose and expressive mark making.  This expressive mark making is done spontaneously to produce a under structure in which differ brush marks can be applied over.  

When this occurs it provides a abstractive approach in the painting where it will not be so rigid and tight.  In this new style there will be more variation of edges.  The women in the painting is my wife from a abstract perspective.  The goal is to learn from and build upon the new concepts and incorporate them into my process.  I truly have always enjoyed creating and painting my art however, with this new shift in style and approach I look forward to more fresh looking works of art.  This is the fourth large scale painting I have done in a row.  

I desire to do more large scale painting in 2021 with the intention to enlarge my small scaled plein air studies.

 

Supplies Needed for Plein Air Painting with Acrylics

 

Recently I had a art friend to share with me that they would love to plein air paint, but they did not know what to bring with them.  So I thought about what they had said to me and I took the time to write out in this blog post on what you need in order to paint in plein air.  In this blog my goal is to give you a lists of recommended things to bring with you when you go out to paint in plein air.  

Whenever I personally go and paint in plein air I record my experience in the form of photos and videos.  It is important to me to document my experience so that I can share with others my passion of art.  There have been a few times where I have left my home to go and paint and relized when I got to my scene that I had forgotten to bring something which was necessary for the experience of painting.  Here are just a few of those supplies that I had forgot to bring paper towel, sketch book, pencil and spray bottle and paint.  

Here are a list of supplies that you should have when you go to paint in plein air.  The following is a list of supplies when you go out to paint in plein air 1. French Easel 2. Brushes 1 liner a large and small size flat brush and 1 large and small size round brush. 3. Stay Wet Palette.  4. Sketch Book with #2 pencil. 5. Adjustable View finder.  This is two L shape cut outs from foam core about 1" to 2" or Two inch gridded view finder.  6. 8x10 panels or stretched canvas  6 Hat . 7. Container of Water 8. Spray bottles 9 Spiked Umbrella.  Perfect for hot summer days.

I hope this blog post has helped you to know what to bring when you decide to paint in plein air. It is always good to have a list of supples and check them off the list as you prepare.  Also check the weather forecast for conditions where you are painting at.  Finally, it is always wise to plan ahead of time as to when and where you are going to paint in plein air go check out the location in advanced or prior to painting to see if the surrounding are suitable for you and safe.  I hope this blog post has help you to know what to bring when you decide to paint in plein air.  

Thank you for reading and please share this post with others who you think would benefit from the content.  Meantime stay safe and healthy.  Pick up a pencil or brush and create some art. Shalom

How to Draw a Portrait from a 3/4 view

Have you ever so someone wearing some particular accessory that captured your eye?  As a artist you have the ability to recreate what you see that inspires you.  When it comes to doing or creating a portrait whether it is a drawing or painting you have the artistic license to emphasis what is important in you art work.  As seen here in the picture above that is what was done. 

In the blog post I would like to share with you how I created this drawing with the purpose bring into focus the hair bow.  

Here is my process into making the portrait drawing.

I decided to create this portrait drawing from a 3/4 view.  In this first step I created a three dimensional line drawing as seen here below.

I started out using vine charcoal and I toned my paper down by using the side of it. Next, I proceeded by plot marking my paper for the most distant width and height points which is not seen on the picture above.
I placed in the features of the face by establishing the proportions with only lines.  Then I went into more detail by rounding or curving the lines to make the eyes nose and lips as seen above.




For the second step I created a value drawing of the portrait.

Here in the picture above I have shaded in the neck and established the garment on the shoulder.  By doing this I have made the drawing to start appearing more three dimensional.  I am drawing from my easel which helps me to not have distortions in my view.  The lighting was poor at the time when this drawing was first started. Since then I have increased the light in my studio.



For the third step I completely finished the charcoal drawing.

In this step I completely laid in all of the features of the portrait and value ranges.  Now the foundation has be establish to introduce color to the hair bow.



This next and final step color is added to the drawing.

I introduced color to the drawing in order for the eye of the viewer to focus on the hair bow.  I choose this color scheme because it is rare to see green and yellow in clothing.  In order for me to accomplish this I used prismacolor pencil which is a wax pigment to it.  I did not use any solvents in the particular drawing but in others I have.  This solvents help break down the wax therefore making it easy to blend and cover completely the tooth of the paper.  It is better to purchase paper that has  tooth to it, in other words, paper that has texture to it.  This will support the extra media added to it.  It is good to purchase papers that are thick and supportive of fluid added to it for example mix media paper and watercolor paper.

Bow & Beauty done on Strathmore drawing paper 14"×17" in charcoal, color pencil and soft pastel.

This is the final look to the drawing.  You can now see the ear rings are added to it.  This draw was originally stored back in 2015 and was completed this year in 2020.  If you are interest in more post of the drawing I produce then please visit my YouTube channel under Dee Weaver Art there you will find over 50 videos.  Also visit my online gallery at www.fineartamerica.com and www.artpal.com there you can fine to purchase at your choosing.  Also you can email me at deeweaver15@gmail.com  Thank you for visiting my blog be blessed.

How to Paint a Cloudscape and Cityscape

There is nothing more beautiful in nature than a colorful sky at sunset or at sunrise.  Also what is beautiful is a city skyline at twilight and a towering thunderstorm looming a city.  In this blog I discuss how I painted a cumulonimbus cloud with an anvil top near city buildings.

I started this painting like most of my paintings with an underpainting.  I used a yellow ochre wash to accomplish this.  

Here is a view of my glass palatte a palatte knife and the colors I mixed.  I used phthylocyanine blue, sky blue, medium red, medium gray yellow ochre, flesh, and white.  I blocked in the sky using a #5 filbert brush. 

In this stage according the picture above I blocked the the sky in.  I used a liquitex slow dry medium to retard the drying process.  For the dark cloud color value I used a mixture of sky blue, medium gray a small amount of medium red. 

Here is the image of the painting before I altered the clouds and building.  I was not satisfied with the form of the cloud at the time they looked a little flat.  I reworked the clouds using a #4 round brush to blend and block in the form.  I premixed all the values of color for the clouds and applied the paint. 

For the cityscape in the foreground I used medium red, phthylocyanine blue and burnt umber.  I look at this cityscape in the fore ground and I said to myself, "It looks flat".  As a result I gave it a 3 dimensional perspective by mixing titanium and black to produce a gray hue.  I applied paint along the side on the right of the tallest buildings.  

Finally, for the reflective light I mix orange and yellow ochre and I used titanium white for the highly reflective light from the sunset.  I did this by using a #4 bright brush and a #2 liner brush. 

"Twilight Strike" done in acylic on stretched canvas @ 16"x20" DWeaverArt © 2018

Thank very much for reading this blog post I look forward to sharing with you more of my process and creations.  Please message me if you have any comments or questions about this painting through email at deeweaver15@gmail.com or share your comment below.  Thank you