Class Demo and Plein Aire Landscapes

Plein Aire Painting: Park Bench, Downtown Blue Ridge, 11x14 Oil on Panel, Custom Framed, $450
Copyright Pat Aube Gray

Plein Aire Painting: West Main St., Downtown Blue Ridge, 8 x 10 Oil on Panel, SOLD
Copyright Pat Aube Gray

Creek at Cartwright's, Oil on Canvas, 11 x 14, custom framed, $750
copyright Pat Aube Gray

In a recent class for oil painters, I painted the demonstration, Creek at Cartwright's, above. The primary emphasis for my students was the aerial perspective, which allows us to see the depth and distance in the landscape, and the strong value contrasts and color intensity in the foreground of the painting. I painted this scene in watercolor years ago, also in a class, but I found I liked it far better in oil. I was particularly pleased with the impact of the reflected light on the tree on the right as well as the realistic look of the little land mass stretching into the creek.

The top two paintings were painted in plein aire (outside, on location) in downtown Blue Ridge last weekend. The Southern Appalachian Artists Guild organized this paint out for both Saturday and Sunday, with paintings turned in mid-day Sunday for an Exhibition. The work completed was really nice - very professionally executed art in such a short span of time. Many of the pieces were sold, including my West Main St., Downtown Blue Ridge, the middle painting above. A big thank you to Marsha Savage for her work in organizing this event.

On Wednesday, the day after tomorrow, I am taking a group out to paint on National Forestry land right on Lake Nottely. Across a very narrow strip of water there is a farm with great red-roofed barns and a farmhouse with the mountains behind them. I have wanted to paint this place for years and I now have my chance! I am planning five such outings this year (April, May, June, Sept., and October); I arrange for a picnic lunch and beverages and we always have a great time! Look forward to photos of paintings in a future post.

Cane Hollow Farm

Outbuildings, Oil, 9 x 12
Cane Hollow Farm, WC, app.15 x 30,

I don't know what it is about a particular image that draws you in, that ignites a spark of creativity, and beckons you to return to it repeatedly. I have a photo on my computer that I took some time ago of a particular group of farm buildings and each time I see it, I am drawn to paint it. First I painted it on a small 9 x 12 canvas in oil (Outbuildings, shown at top)as a demo in a workshop, using only a palette knife, and I stayed fairly true to the proportion and the scene as it appeared in the photo. I did, however, push the autumn colors beyond what appeared in the photo. The second time I used the image as source material, I altered the concept, changing the weather to a blustery winter day, with snow and stormy grey clouds, painting in oil again but this time on a 12 x 24 canvas. (That painting is almost complete and not pictured above.) Last week, during a watercolor workshop, I once again used the photo as inspiration, this time painting in watercolor on 300# rough paper (Cane Hollow Farm, bottom photo). I used a landscape format, larger than the one before it, using a 15 x 30 sheet. Again I painted a winter scene, but used a limited palette with what I felt was a pleasing mix of warm and cool colors. I added a typical white Georgia farmhouse to the scene as well as a dirt path or roadway, and kept the painting quite simple.

A funny aspect of this is that I could not remember where I was when I had taken the photograph and it was really frustrating me as I was working on the second painting. A couple of weeks ago I went to visit friends. Across the road from their house is a wonderful huge pasture, usually filled with cows and an inviting vista. With the trees bared once again in preparation of winter, I was able to see some barns in a clearing and thought, "Gee, that looks like that gambrel roofed barn in my paintings. Oh, and that other building looks like..." Yes, indeed, there was the image I had photographed, probably two years prior. And it held the same excitement for me then as it did when I first snapped that picture. I have no doubt I will paint these buildings again!

New Beginnings

A New Day, Oil on Canvas, 12 x 24 copyright Pat Aube Gray 2008
Click on Image to enlarge.

I began this painting in my palette knife workshop and finished it afterward. The only part of this painting that was done with a brush is the interesting vent on the roof and my signature! I had been wanting to paint on a 12 x 24 canvas and this barn with the long range mountain view and a sunrise was just the right image for it. The clarity is lost a little in the photo you see here, but if you click to enlarge it you can see more detail. I am particularly pleased with the color harmony in this painting. Hope you like it,too!

Sunday Greetings!

New Salem NY Rock Fence, Copyright Pat Aube Gray

Good morning! I painted this scene on location in 2006, but without the light. It was my last painting in an afternoon of work at a wonderful farm in New Salem, NY, established in the 1700's. All I did initially was record the shapes of what I saw and just indicate where the sun was hitting and where it wasn't. This week I overpainted my underpainting with color and light. It was a wonderful scene and makes for a pleasant painting, don't you think?

I was in NY that summer taking a portrait workshop for two weeks with the inimitable master, Daniel Greene. A wonderful experience and I left with a definite realization that sometimes I settle for less than I should and could do! An invaluable lesson for me! Over the weekend, between sessions of the weekly workshops, I went out with other artists to paint en plein aire.

Click HERE to bid on this painting

"First Painting After Surgery"

Golden Field, copyright Pat Aube Gray

I put the title of this post in quotation marks because that is the name employees gave this painting when I put it in for framing! And then they called the next one I completed, not surprisingly, "Second Painting After Surgery."

"Golden Field," the correct name of this first watercolor, was completed as a demonstration of a foreground treatment in a watercolor workshop in late October. I sprayed water and used salt for texture in this piece. It was painted out of my head (aren't they all?) but certainly based on the recent local landscape I get to see every day in these beautiful North Georgia mountains. It is approximately 14" wide x 21" high and is painted on Arches 140# cold pressed paper. The painting is SOLD.

"Scenic Highway in Autumn" was also begun in the above mentioned workshop as an exercise in contrasting very strong darks and intense lights to achieve drama and I completed it after the workshop was over. A spray bottle helped me keep the painting wet as I worked it and I employed spattering toward the finish. I used a photograph I had taken several years ago as a reference for this 21" x 14" watercolor also
on Arches 140# cold pressed paper. This painting has been beautifully framed and is available for sale at Carriage House Framing & Gallery in Blairsville.

Scenic Highway in Autumn copyright Pat Aube Gray

My shoulder is no longer hurting when I draw or paint on a table or in my lap. I have done two small oils, one also a demo in a class, and find that I still have difficulty holding my arm up while painting at the easel. But I am in physical therapy now and hope that it won't be long before I can paint with less pain and more agility.

In Praise of Those Who Do

It is embarassing to say that I have not come remotely close to fulfilling the promise I made to myself three months ago to post daily to my blog site. Yeah, sure, I have been incredibly busy, trying to do the work that keeps the light bill paid, but I am sure I could have eeked some time out for this, too. I can only promise to try to do better.
Fortunately, I can say that I have completed a number of paintings, including the 15 foot by 6 1/2 foot pastoral landscape mural on an interior wall and several commissioned portraits, have taught a couple of workshops and attended one, and even managed to spend some time with my sister over the holidays.
My inspiration to post today comes from visiting the website and blog of another Georgia artist who is putting out a painting almost each day and who is really taking her career in a wonderful direction. I admire not only her work, but also her strong work ethic and energetic marketing, not to mention her productivity. I must owe my shortcomings to a lack of diligence and/or procrastination, though I would protest that I work too hard to be guilty of that. I may, however, be insufficiently focused! I will work on that!