More Plein Air!

A few more paintings from last the Brandywine Plein Air festival last week!

Frolic's Ford, 8x10 oil 

Pasture at Big Bend, 8x10 oil 

 During the exhibit at Winterthur, I demonstrated plein air painting in the main tent to entertain visitors. Here I am with my half-finished watercolor demo on Saturday. The painting sold before the paint was dry!

On Sunday I demonstrated watercolor painting again, this time using a photo from my recent plein air workshop in Calella de Palafrugell as my reference. Both my demo paintings are on the "Cezanne" 140 lb rough watercolor paper from Hahnemuehle. I was demonstrating alongside my co-organizer of  Plein Air Brandywine, Yvonne Mucci; and I invited my house guest Gerilyn Gaskil to join us. I gave each of them a block of the paper to use, and both of them loved it every bit as much as I do.

More new paintings and demos from Plein Air Brandywine Valley festival!

The last couple of weeks I've been busy with the Plein Air Brandywine Valley festival. The event kicked off with a reception for the artists at the Marshallton Inn, where everyone received their welcome packets with the event schedule and artist info, and swag bags full of wonderful goodies donated by our generous sponsors. Artists started painting the very next morning and continued for four days. We started the week off by painting at farms and estates in the Greenville, Delaware area on Monday, then Marshallton, Pennsylvania on Tuesday (including a Quick Draw event!), then Chesapeake City, Maryland on Wednesday (followed by a Nocturne painting event), and finished up back in Delaware on Thursday. On Friday, we hung the show at Winterthur and the paintings were judged by Steve Doherty, editor of Plein Air Magazine and prizes were awarded during a gala reception. 

I demonstrated landscape painting using Mission Gold Watercolors provided by Martin F. Weber Fine Art Products on both Saturday and Sunday for visitors enjoying the exhibit at Winterthur.  

Painting away in Chesapeake City. Busy Bridge, 5x7 watercolor on canvas, SOLD. 

I finished 8 paintings during the event, and sold 3 of them before the paint was dry. 

Me, with Steve Doherty after the judging. As one of the event organizers, my paintings were not included in the judging, but I did get to participate in all the events and sold several paintings! 

New Paintings, Upcoming events, and lightfingered artists

Last weekend I demonstrated plein air painting at Marshall Square park in West Chester to promote the upcoming Plein Air Brandywine Valley. I painted two paintings of the fountain, one in oils and one in watercolor - using my new palette of watercolor pans from Mission Gold. The travel set of Mission Gold watercolors was a gift from the Weber company, who generously gave me samples to give out to all the artists who registered for Plein Air Brandywine Valley and also to all the artists who attended my demo for the Philadelphia Watercolor Society. 

They also gave me a set of paints to use during my demo, but another artist intercepted my box of samples when it arrived at the PWCS event and took everything, including my set of paints. She boldly announced that she was the one who got the samples for all the PWCS members, and then began handing out my samples to the audience. She even generously offered to give two of my samples to me! I was so flabbergasted by her outrageous behavior that I couldn't find the words, and I walked away. Not to worry, as I work with the Weber company on many projects and they sent me another set in the mail a few days later. It arrived in time for me to use in this demo and also the one I did for Jerry's Artarama last Friday. 

Marshall Square Park Fountain, 8x10 oil, SOLD

 Both paintings were sold off my easel before they were finished.

Marshall Square Park Fountain, 9x12 watercolor, SOLD

 Tomorrow night, I'll be at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia for the opening of the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Juried Show. I'm thrilled to be juried in this show, which had over 5,000 entries!

 Saturday, I'll be demonstrating plein air painting at Winterthur, beginning at 9am. If you're in the area, be sure to stop in and check it out! I'll be right near the main entrance of the museum, so you won't have to go far to find me.

Next weekend, I'll be demonstrating acrylic painting with Amsterdam Acrylics and conducting "make n take" classes at the Plaza Art Store in Towson, Maryland. This is the store's annual Hands On Creativity event, which features over a dozen different art supply companies and manufacturers displaying new products, offering free demos, and giving away samples. You won't want to miss this awesome event!

Plein Air Painting at the Brandywine Museum of Art

I had a wonderful day last week at the Brandywine River Museum of Art during their "Inside Out Plein Air" event. Three other artists and I were invited to paint inside the museum, which was especially nice since the outside temperature was in the high 90's with a heat index in the triple digits. I quickly painted a couple of watercolors of my view of the river, and then a small watercolor of the vase of white hydrangeas in the lobby.

Brandywine River Plein Air, 12x9 watercolor 

Brandywine River Plein Air, 9x12 watercolor 

Brandywine River Museum Interior, 6x4 watercolor 

I don't often get the opportunity to practice painting live figures, so I was thrilled to be able to get out my sketchbook and fill several pages. People standing around and walking about the museum lobby were perfect models, and because I was there with permission I was able to paint to my heart's content without any intrusions. Afterwards, some of my students saw my plein air figure sketches and have asked me to add the lessons to my schedule. Ask, and you shall receive! Figure Sketching in Watercolor is being added to the curriculum of my upcoming workshop in Spain, and one-day classes will be added to my lineup of studio classes.

Plein Air Figure Sketching in Watercolor

 In other news, merchandise is still arriving for the Plein Air Brandywine Valley event in October! Cheap Joe's Art Stuff just sent us a $100 Gift Card and fashionable painting apron that some lucky artist will win as a Merit Award at the event. The name of the comapany -- Cheap Joe's -- is quite an oxymoron as anyone who's ever done business with them knows they are as generous as the day is long.

We're now up to 14 Merit Awards, in addition to the top awards which total over $10,000 in cash! There's still time to apply, although the entries will close in a week so that notifications can begin.

$100 Merit Award for Plein Air Brandywine Valley from Cheap Joe's