Friday, July 1, 2011

"Plein Air" painting at the beach

I spent the day at the beach, set up with my beach umbrella, camping stove burner, torch, encaustic paints, and beautiful surroundings. It was overwhelming at first, trying to figure out the correct heat settings on the stove, making sure that the wax was not too hot. Fusing with my torch was also a challenge because I could not see how strong the flame was and I needed to control it in order to not over heat the wax. Did I mention it was a bright sunny blue sky morning followed by clouds mid day that were chased off by more blue sky in the afternoon?

I already can see the things I want to change in my painting (as soon as I can bring it home after the art festival is over). I had to submit my work by 5pm this afternoon and often I need a few days before I can accurately see the corrections that need to be made in order to make a painting successful. In the meantime, it is part of the "Painting the Town" exhibit at the Marblehead Festival of Arts this weekend.

"High Tide at Devereux Beach", 8" x 8", pigmented wax, sand, rocks


Here I am painting at the beach; notice the sky in the first image, and how it's changed minutes later in the second image.



And last night was the award ceremony...





Happy 4th of July, everyone!





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6 comments:

  1. hw (hallie) farberJuly 1, 2011 at 8:36 PM

    I'll start with the plein aire painting. I love that you used sand and rocks--and the dark part reminds me of a crocodile.

    You look wonderful in the photo and I notice that the judge used the word "masterful." Congratulations again.

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  2. RobinJuly 1, 2011 at 9:28 PM

    The dark part was suppose to be a small island that I should have made much smaller. Also, I have to admit, I enhanced the colors for the blog post, they are not quite as vibrant in real life. Thanks for the congratulations twice over.

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  3. Autumn LeavesJuly 2, 2011 at 8:25 AM

    Awesome job, Robin! What a fabulous day all around this was!

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  4. Susan RouxJuly 2, 2011 at 8:48 AM

    Very nice and it sounds like fun. Here in Maine we have a saying, if you don't like the weather, wait a minute... On my Back from Monhegan post we went from completely blue sky to thunderstorm followed by a double rainbow in less than one hour! It makes plein air painting quite a challenge...

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  5. -DonJuly 3, 2011 at 5:13 AM

    Congratulations on both your first place award and a successful day of plein air painting. How exciting to see you pushing yourself even further outside of your comfort zone.

    -Don

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  6. RobinJuly 3, 2011 at 8:11 AM

    Susan, I do love the challenges of painting outdoors, the constantly changing weather and sky, (one of the many things I love about New England) but having to learn heat settings on the camping stove is going to take lots of practice.

    I have to share with all of you that the reception for the plein air painters was yesterday afternoon and there were so many beautifully painted landscapes. Mostly watercolors, lots of oils, a few acrylics, and I have come to the conclusion the encaustic medium is still often misunderstood.

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