Carol Fleischer

I really enjoyed this week of painting outdoors and up north. I was worried that I would be miserable, but was able to paint through heat, sun, rain, wind and bugs and like it. My goals for this week were to get together a reasonable amount of equipment for paining comfortably outdoors, get away from picky details in my paintings and not panic if someone looked at my paintings in progress. Firstly, I did manage to have everything that I needed to make a painting. In the future I will reduce the amount of stuff that I take and use a smaller pallet. Painting on watercolor paper blacks worked well as did my new umbrella. Secondly, I didn’t take any small brushes with me thus avoiding picky details. I think that this has improved my paintings. Lastly, no one came near me while I was painting but I have generally more confidence and hope that I will be able to carry on if I encounter strangers in the future while painting.

For me one of the more interesting things that Nora told us was that painting where you live identifies you. The local landscape is part of who we are. This may help to explain my difficulty in settling down to paint during my travels. Those exotic landscapes are not a part of me. I must remember also that those nineteenth century travelers who documented their travels with watercolor sketches did not have cameras. Therefore in the future I plan to just enjoy the moment and take some pictures while traveling. If I feel like doing a sketch I will otherwise, that’s just not who I am.

Nora also mentioned that the colors in the Michigan landscape are lovely in August when the grasses turn golden and violet. In addition she conveyed that the light in September is the same a Florence Italy. Nora also seems to like the Mission Peninsula. I have fond memories of the Mission Peninsula and I did not know before the class started that we would be painting there. On this trip I did not lament the changes on the peninsula but celebrated them. Wineries are a good thing and it looks as if they will help the economy of our state. This trip has made me appreciate Michigan more and I hope to continue painting in plein aire here.

The Work

Sunday July 31, 20011, Carroll Road

I worked on these two 9x12 watercolor paintings simultaneously. I was intrigued by the way the hills overlapped, and by the color of the sunlight on the higher hill. Nora encouraged me to “push” one a little more. I tried to emphasize the place where the hills come together in the painting on the bottom.

Monday August 1, 2011, Carroll Road

I liked the saddle shape of this hill and the early morning sun and shadow in the orchard on the left. For this 9x12 watercolor I used only two large brushes.

Tuesday August 2, 2001 Mission Point Lighthouse.

I made these 9x12 watercolors by wading into the lake to wet my paper. Then I placed the wet paper on glass that kept the paper wet for a very long time allowing me to work wet on wet. This was my favorite activity of the week as the lake became a part of my painting.

It began to rain so I moved to a beach north of the Old Mission to do this 9x12 oil pastel while sitting in my car. This was my first attempt at oil pastel and my small set of colors was too intense for this gray day.

I liked using wet paper on glass so much that I did two more 9x12 watercolors for homework. It was nice to be able to use a hair dryer to dry the paper enough to make a few harder edges.

Wednesday and Thursday August 3&4, Chateau Chantel

For this painting I wanted to try to do a larger (18x24) watercolor over two days. The problem with this approach was that the first day was gloomy with very dark heavy skies. The next day was very sunny. I tried to finish the painting as if the light was the same as the first day. I would not do this again. I think that doing a small study and taking lots of photos on one day and then painting a large work in the studio would be a better solution. The atmosphere and even the paint drying time all interact in a plein aire session.

Sunday August 7, 2011

Changes made in response to the August 5 critique.

Homework

For my homework I wanted to explore watercolor on 11x14 yupo paper. I found that opaque colors worked best and that wiping away color to get back to white paper could be used to make images. Layering washes could be done but needs to be done carefully.