outdoor art
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Morning downtown with the sketchbook group
This weekend my local sketchbook group met close enough to my home that I was able to bike into the meet! Perfect timing with a crisp morning as we transition into fall. Clear blue skies made the complimentary red-orange brick of these buildings even more striking than usual. I had to leave an hour early…
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Sketching at the lake
A sketch from a peaceful, clear morning by the lake.
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Race weekend 4
Another race weekend, with another good batch of lessons learned about watercolor gouache painting. I’ve abandoned my pencil in favor of underpainting, which is allowing me more flexibility with shapes, as well as more speed. The yellow of my underpainting shows through on the clouds here, but I kind of like the effect. I didn’t…
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Race weekend 3
Plein-air lessons learned while painting from the top of a fire-watch tower.
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Race weekend 2
Another race weekend, another chance to practice watercolor gouache for a few hours 🙂 From my paddock spot, I couldn’t see much other than trees. But it was a good opportunity for practicing green color-mixing. I picked a couple trees with subtle hue differences, and I practiced pushing their hues further from each other, to…
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Race weekend 1
A plein-air painting in watercolor gouache for the first race event of the year.
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Solo performer
Walked into town and enjoyed a solo performance while sketching. Musicians are nice subjects because they stay sort of in place for a while 🙂 It feels a little silly to carry such a large array of materials with me when I only use a couple after all. But you never know which materials the…
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Outdoor musicians
I was inspired by a friend’s musician-filled sketchbook, and I wanted to practice with this neat mini-palette I picked up recently. Luckily, this very groovy five-piece band was playing right by the square downtown. 🙂 While I was painting, a little girl sitting nearby was fascinated by my portable paints. I gave her mom an…
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View from an afternoon hike
Every time I walk this trail, I’m enamored by the sudden appearance of the blue ridge in the distance when the trail breaks onto this field. And every time I’m disappointed by the inability of a phone camera to capture anywhere near the beauty of the scene. This time I tried to capture it with…
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Autocross in the rain
Painted while watching my fiancé drive an amateur autocross course in the rain. Jelly gouache on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper.
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Chambersburg Plein Air 2024
Painted for a local plein-air competition, completed in 4 hours. Jelly gouache on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper.
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Camp Hill Plein Air 2024
Painted with jelly gouache “en plein-air” on a gray, rainy day for a local plein-air painting competition.
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Tree-lined country road
One of my first plein-air paintings, in pallet watercolors on Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper. A windy day made this on-site painting a struggle.
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Cemetery light
Gouache practice again! This time I tried starting with a very limited palette. It seemed to actually make color-matching easier? I aimed for a palette with the following hues: Warm white Cool white Warm red Cool red Warm yellow Cool yellow Warm blue Cool blue Warm green Cool green Black Gray
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Rail bridge in summer
I’m learning to paint with gouache in the hopes of improving my eye for color, and my color-mixing ability. Today’s piece didn’t hit quite all the shades of brown I was aiming for, but I learned a good bit and had some good discussions with friends along the way. 🙂
