More 2014 Plein Air Colored Pencil Works

I promised you more Plein Air pieces and here they are:

"Pier 22 Annapolis Docks" a 8 X 6" Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard completed during a weekend workshop on location at the docks.  My BFF and fellow plein air junkie, Kathy Scott also worked at this view in her native oil paints.

In Sept. we attended a plein air workshop from Oil Painter - Barbara Nuss who's book on Composition we both own and hold in high regard.  Which can be purchased from her at her website HERE or at a Barnes and Nobles.

Now again most workshops I attend in plein air are for other media, not colored pencil.  But I always feel you can learn from other artists in their approach and palette.   I just translate in my head the colors they mix or demonstrate into my well known Prismacolor shades.  Black Grape, Moss green etc.

To the right is Kathy's 10 X 8" piece done in Oil "Dockside Bar"  Her piece was also finished in the studio afterwards.  To view more of Kathy's work her website can be viewed HERE You can see the differences two artists observe in the same view.  It is the artist's prerogative to add or remove elements they find distracting to their subject.

The view across from the main dock area was in constant motion.  The large sail boat Woodwind II from my piece, came and went in the 4 hours we painted in the sun.  A large bay charter boat came and went from slip 22 every hour and a half.  Blocking our view and making us move our set up spot initially.  But such are the perils of working in the fresh air!  

The above shown pieces were from our second day of the workshop, Sunday.   On the prior day, Saturday we watched a demo Barbara completed from the window of the Quiet Waters State Park in Annapolis, MD, while we waited for the rain to clear.  Then it was out to the South River view to take it on for ourselves.

So my "South River View" an 8 X 8" Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard came to be.  Now again, my colored pencil works are usually near 75% complete on location, with the build up of layers and saturation of color added afterward.

We concluded our trip to Maryland with a detour thru Chads Ford, PA to see the homes and studios of N. C. Wyeth and his son Andrew.  What a treat!

I do have a few more works yet to see the finishing touches from other 2014 plein air adventures in CP.

Stay tuned!
Gloria

Landscapes in Colored Pencil - Bodie Island Light 24 X 18

I finished this colored pencil painting just before my vacation last week and needed to settle on it a while, you know like we all do with newly finished work.  Set it aside, look at it, put it in a frame to check it out, look at it some more and then leave it for a week to see - is it really done.  Well, I guess so as I photographed it today, and here it is.  Done except for the 6 - 8 final coats of UV Varnish which I'll do tomorrow.  I like to shoot it after I spray it with matte fixative but before the varnish as I think the added coats make it harder to photograph.  It's done on Ampersand Pastel Board.  So it can hang without glass, protected by the UV Varnish.

The lighthouse in lower Nags Head, NC is a familiar site for vacationers to the outer banks.  And is one of the reference shots from our Trip at the end of May.  The view is from the marsh lands looking back to the light from the deck platform.  Catching the reflection in the marsh water was a unique shot of this often photographed lighthouse.  One of the many pieces I will be working on for a gallery in the outer banks.  I hope you enjoy my take on it.

The Wave - A study on water

                                                    The Wave a 8 X 10.5" study

I've been working on this study  for a few weeks off and on, trying to get the look of the ocean, it's color and action.  This was an exercise for a larger piece coming next and my first try on Canson Edition paper.  Not sure I like this paper as it doesn't take the layers my normal Stonehenge does or for that matter what my HP Watercolor paper does.  But a Study is just that but I do see some uses for this paper in adding it to my artists journal as is is supposed to handle mixed media too!  For this I used 100% colored pencil, no wc pencil under painting.  But I will have to try that out when I add it to my artist journal.

After dealing with many on going internet issues (2 months with Verizon checking my lines, modems and such) I hope to get caught up on blogging and other communications.  But today I'm planning on getting my newest water themed piece of and running.  Line drawing, and transfer to board on the agenda.  Will show you the progress in a few days. 


What art have you created today!

Gloria