Painting While The Boys Fish

My husband Chuck and my son Dillon love to fish. This year my husband dicovered a quaint fishing spot at the Osage County State Fishing Lake. Not much more than a typical Kansas pasture pond but I guess it's stocked regularly. We have been out there to "fish" a few times this summer as a family. I personally can not stand fishing. Don't enjoy eating them and I certainly don't like to touch any slimmy worms... ok that is my one "girly" thing. They don't scare me, it's a texture thing. Anyway, so that we can spend some quality family time I have be accompanying them out to the lake and I have been taking my easle and paints. As I mentioned last fall, I am not much of a plein aire painter but I thought this would give me the perfect opportunity to paint with nature as an inspiration. Also, I could get a much needed piece done for the up coming Arron Douglas Art Fair.


"Sunflower at the Lake", 16"x20", acrylic on canvas.



So the first time we went out we arrived with only about 2 hours of light left. I also took my lap top. I started the background of my piece allowing myself to be inspired by the blues and greens of the serene environment. Then I turned to the photos I took of sunflowers last fall. I discovered that the dual, technology and nature gave a wonderful blend of inspiration. Also, with the time limit on the light I ended up working well into the dusk which seemed to be a struggle at the time. I dreaded to look at it in the light when I got home, so I stuck it in my studio and let it cure for a little while.

When I work at home, I regularly paint outside on our back deck, sometimes using a printed copy of my photos for reference. I have powerful spot lights available to paint by and if that isn't enough I have some tungsten work lights that I can set up.


The change in environment and working into duck made a difference. The pallet that evolved through this unlikely mix was bold yet distinctly more subtle than my previous pieces done at home.





"Where the Tiny Fish are Biting", 20"x16", acrylic on canvas.

On my second trip out, we got an early start. It was a Sunday afternoon rather than trying to capture the evening. We also came provisioned with cook out goodies. It was almost a festive event.

The guys had much better luck on this trip but the disappointment was that every fish they caught was not much bigger than a grown man's hand. Catch and release was the drill for the day. This never keeps them from continuing to hope for the next "big" one.

With more time available I decided to give actual plein air painting a whirl. It was so peaceful out there. The clouds were coming in from the south and the mood was happy.

I started off blocking off an area on the canvas and immediately decided I wanted the 1/3 bottom to be the lake and allow the sky to rule the piece. I knew by the formation of the clouds there was a promise of a beautiful sunset and some wonderful color. The water intimidated me a lot. It was a little choppy and I had never attempted painting water not to metion a bunch of little waves.


At first, I worked on the sky to get the initial fluffyness with the lower flat clouds. Then blocked it a purple line of trees and turned to tackle the water challenge. I knew if I could get that right, the rest would fall into place. I worked and worked on the water and finally allowed myself the more subtle wakes rather than the choppiness of the real deal. It captured the mood I wanted. As the evening drew nearer, I was rewarded with the promised sunset color. As the light changed and colored the clouds I was able to mimic it in the clouds I had previously blocked in. I was very fortuneate that the cloud formation changed very little in the 3 hours that I sat and was inspired by nature. I ended up working on this piece well into dusk as well. But was much more confident as the work done in poor lighting was minimal.


These painting adventures are only the first of what I hope many of my plein aire attempts.

Golfers let artists paint through

I was quoted in the Capital Journal again! This "Plein Air" event gave me the opportunity to commune with a lot of well known Kansas artists who work full time in their craft. They are living the dream! It was very inspiring to be around so many creative people.

Having not painted "Plein Air" before, it was an exciting challenge. While talking to the other artists who are not golfers, I found that being a golfer myself, I had a different perspective on the subject. I selected a spot on hole 3, in the rough near a maple tree which had started to color for fall and began with that as inspiration. As the painting developed, I started to imagine how I would feel if I actually had my ball lying where I was painting. Suddenly, the trees became looming obstacles and I could see the light over the hill which hid my goal. This created the opportunity for me to personalize the piece with an emotional reaction. Here is my result from the day:

Below is the article:

Ann Williamson/The Capital-Journal
Lawrence artist Stan Herd puts the finishing touches on a plein air painting Monday at the Topeka Country Club.

Golfers let artists paint through

Published Tuesday, October 10, 2006

By Bill Blankenship
The Capital-Journal

The golf carts at the Topeka Country Club carried artists and easels Monday instead of players and clubs.

About two dozen artists spent the morning painting outdoors at the tree-lined, 18-hole private golf course in an event organized by Gary Blitsch, owner of the SouthWind Gallery at Framewoods of Topeka.

The French term for what the artists were doing is "en plein air," which means "in the open air," and for some of the artists, outdoors is the only place to work.

"In my book, painting outside is a necessity. You learn so much more outside than you do in your studio," said Judith Mackey, the Cottonwood Falls artist known for her landscapes of the Flint Hills and the Kansas prairies. "Nature is a good teacher."

While Hugh Greer, an award-winning artist from Wichita, spends more time painting in a studio than outdoors, he agreed about plein air exposing an artist to colors beyond his imagination.

"Colors come out of you here that you wouldn't normally see," Greer said.

Working outside often requires a faster pace than painting in the studio, he added.

"You have to work faster and try to capture the moment," Greer said. "Here you don't have a lot of time to dink."

Dana Hassett, a painter who recently moved to the Topeka area from Burns, called plein air painting "more tactile" than working in a studio.

"I think you get the real essence in a painting when you're in the fresh air and the wind blows your easel over," she joked.

Like Mackey, Hassett is more used to painting in the open prairies than on a carefully groomed golf course like Topeka Country Club.

"It's a little more manicured, to say the least," she said.

However, Stan Herd, of Lawrence, spotted a connection between the golf course greens and the fields where he has created works of art.

Pointing out the mowing patterns on one green, Herd said, "It reminds me of lines in a field. That pattern tripped my trigger."

Herd said he recently immersed himself in plein air painting when he and his son did a 12-day, 104-mile trek from Lawrence to Cottonwood Falls, during which he created 16 paintings.

Topeka artist Michelle Leivan was trying plein air painting for the first time Monday.

"I paint outside a lot, but I usually do it from a reference photo or from my head," said Leivan, whose inspiration Monday was the turning of maple leaves to their autumn colors.

When they made way for afternoon golfers, some of the artists had nearly finished works. Others will use what they did Monday as a starting point.

"You get basic shadows, basic lights, forms, shapes, then you take the thing into the studio and refine it," Walsh said.

The final works that began Monday at the Topeka Country Club will be displayed and sold there at a Dec. 5 reception.

Bill Blankenship can be reached at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.