A Season in the Sun

These past weeks painting outdoors have been eye-opening. Until a little over a year ago my plein air work was almost all watercolor. But last year I made a tentative start with oil painting outdoors. It isn't as easy as it sounds, mostly because of equipment. I have a French easel, which is basically a wooden box with collapsible legs that you can fill with supplies and brushes and carry outside. It's bulky and heavy and using it was discouraging. In the end I bought an Open Box M easel that combines with a tripod. You load the easel (inside the box) first--it doesn't accommodate tubes--and so it's lighter and more portable. Since the weather began to clear in very early springtime, I've made it a point to paint outdoors. Below is the first plein air painting of this year, done very early in March when the Raccoon River was ice-free but before a speck of green peeped out.

"The Raccoon River," oil on panel

Most of my work has been on 9x12 panels. Stretched canvas is too troublesome and it's hard to get much done on larger sizes except with multiple trips to the same spot. And the panels are light and easy to transport, even when wet. 

It wasn't long before I moved closer to my home studio, mostly because of convenience (it's closer), and began painting from various spots around Gray's Lake. The lake features bike/hike trails, picnic tables, playground equipment, and a beach. The trees surround the water are ancient, some with girths more than six feet. The capitol of Iowa is distantly visible from the lake, too. I painted the capitol dome from lakeside in mid-March (below) before the weather or trees had changed much.

"The View from Gray's Lake," oil on panel

Although I spent time on the river, much of my work during the late summer was at the lake. The trees provide welcome shade, cool breezes come off the water, and it's easier to distance oneself there than at many spots. 

"The Point," oil on panel

By late summer I had painted at a number of locations in the area, but kept coming back to the lake for sustenance. One of my favorite views is from the north side where a point of land juts almost to the center of the lake, making it bi-lobed. Across the trees in the distance you can see an apartment building, and along the lake shore is a pedestrian bridge, built for walkers, who show up almost regardless of the weather. I like the view above so well I've done a series of paintings using nearly the same spot. In part I did these because now, as autumn advances, there is a constantly changing view. A look at one of the series (below) shows how fast the colors are changing now. The Point was done in the third week of August.

"The Point, Autumn," oil on panel

As you can see in The Point, Autumn, the near rank of trees, just beyond the walking bridge had begun to change when I painted it in mid-September, about three weeks after the first one. It's instructive and deeply pleasurable to spend time outdoors, studying deeply and living in the now. 

Some time this fall or winter I plan a private show of the season's output.