Plein Air Painting with Michele Frantz
On Saturday, October 19, 2024, I met with several local artists for a Plein Air Class with Michele Frantz at the Occoquan Regional Park at a very cool 9am. The artists circled around Michele, who gave us instructions and tips, and showed us samples of her plein air sketches, thumbnails and equipment.
Michele's Umbrella was definitely a topic of interest as far as tools of the trade. The 9 artists had questions on everything and were enthralled to hear the various ideas on "painting hacks". Michele showed the artists her thumbnail quick sketches that captured various points of interests around the shore line of the Occoquan River.
Finally, she released the Kracken, well the artists...and off we went.
Click on any photo to enlarge.
Plein Air Painting Down by the River
Tasked with a few projects from Ms Frantz, the artists quickly spread out to find their starting points. Some did the sketching tasks, others jumped right into the painting. All scattered about finding their perfect spots to paint from.
For myself, that also involved capturing some snapshots of what I might like to paint along with the lighting that only stays "just so" for a such a very brief time. And of course, some things like wildlife (birds, ducks), boats (and kayaks), a cloud (which were at zero this day), the waves, etc last such a short amount of time, get it while you see it. You can always add in these interesting points later if you like.
Not sure we could have asked for a prettier day even if it did start with that chilly air. It quickly became quite a comfortable day with big blue sky, blue water and fall happening all around us.
These delightful and hungry ducks came along and studied us for awhile. Art critics, bah. They didn't have any helpful tips to add. Of note, if you look especially close at the tree trunk, there is a red and white fishing bobbin.
The kayakers were a load of entertainment as it was possibly their first time. We enjoying listening to their antics.
I take so many pictures to emphasize the quickly and ever changing light through the trees landing on the surfaces to show all the options provided while plein air painting.
Of course, the light coming through the trees onto my canvas on my easel was snapshot worthy too.
When the light hit just right, you could see various fishing lines streaming and sparkling from the trees, along with a second bobbin hanging from the tree just beyond this painter.
The beauty of plein air painting is painting what you see AND leaving out what you don't want to see.
After the Plein Air Painting
This was my first time plein air painting -outdoors- with acrylic paint. I must say I struggled with getting the colors where I wanted in the time available. Of course, when you are new to painting outdoors, it also takes some configuring on setting up your supplies as well, so there was that too. Kudos to those that are up and running in mere minutes.
My question is - can you still call it plein air painting when you take it home to your studio and finish it up?
This blog post was written on Wednesday, October 23 - so 4 days after the class. Here's a picture of my painting on where it's at - at the moment. There are a few more things I'd like to do to it, but I am getting closer to happy.
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