We went to Madeline Island, WI this past week for an anniversary trip. We spent 4 nights in a cabin with a Lake Superior view, and did lots of kayaking and cycling.
I spent 30 minutes each day painting a local scene, all 5 x 7 inches, in my sketchbook. My gouache kit was very portable on bikes; I didn’t try in the kayak!
I was delighted to receive an Award of Merit for one of my paintings from the Swope Art Museum Plein Air Event, at the awards ceremony yesterday evening.
The juror was Julio Suarez, professor of Art at Hillsdale College, MI. He gave an enjoyable and interesting plein air demo yesterday evening, accompanied by thunder, but we never felt rain.
This was painted in one session on the morning of 6/24/25. The main part of the building pictured here is the Dining Hall in the Union building.
I painted from the small beach on the side of the lake— a great way to spend a morning!
I love painting outside! When the Plein Air event is in my home town, it is so exciting! This is the third year it’s been held and the third year I’ve taken part. I had a great time!
It was intense in time and heat; I tried to get out early on 4 mornings to catch the morning light. I aimed at 7 am, but usually hit 8 am. By 11 am the temperature was in the mid 90s, so I came home and went out to paint again on 5 evenings, 7-9:30 pm.
I like to choose a theme to reduce the time I spend deciding where to paint. This year my theme was the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, which accounts for 5 of the 6 paintings. The other one is a farewell to JoAnn Fabrics, before they take all the signs and wording down.
I had great interactions with the public (someone even wanting to buy one of the paintings!) and fun talking with the other artists. This for me is a very positive side effect of painting outside.
I’ve been away from the blog for 6 months—where has the time gone?
I’ve been busy though.
After the William Turman Plein Air Event at the Swope Art Musem in Terre Haute in June 2024, I and a couple of other participants decided to go out painting more regularly.
Since the last half of August we have been going to local parks almost every week on a Friday morning. We found a good routine was to go to the same site two weeks in a row, sometimes to finish a painting, sometimes to explore a new idea that came up the previous week.
Here are two paintings from the first week, August 23, 2024:
Then I tried part of the same scene with a palette knife, on a smaller board:
And I started a painting of the river facing north, using oil crayons as an underlayer ‘drawing’:
It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience!
On June 13-16, 2024 I took part in the second Plein Air Event in Terre Haute. This year we were allowed 10 blank canvases, up from 5 last year. I could not manage to paint 10! I ended up with 5 paintings.
I decided to have the Courthouse as my focal point this year, painting it from different directions at different times of day.
I decided to try this view again on Gessobord, so I went back later on the second day to block in the shapes, and then returned on the morning of the third day to finish it.
I also painted to the west of the Courthouse, at Dewey Point at the Wabashiki wetland, over two evenings:
My third location was in Fairbanks Bank, on the banks of the Wabash River, but this year I turned my attention to the Courthouse instead of the river. I painted two paintings from slightly different locations.
When I returned to complete it the next evening, lots of people started arriving for a family concert (a local Wind Band) playing in the Amphitheater! I had not expected this, and it was a very different atmosphere! It turned out to be really fun. Lots of people stopped to look at what I was doing and make comments, or tell me their story; children were especially vocal and engaged. A girl told me she loved my painting and it ought to be in an art museum, and then she picked a clover and gave it to me as my award! Beautiful experiences!
Oil on panel, 9 x 12 ins
This Plein Air competition, the first of its kind in Terre Haute, was run by the Swope Art Museum and the Indiana Plein Air Painter’s Association, 6/22-6/24, 2023.
I have not done much plein air painting, but was keen to join in because I thought it was an encouragement to do more, and support this community event.
All participants had to present their blank canvases (max #5) to the Swope Art Museum for a stamp on the back to verify it was blank.
I was delighted to find that my painting of the White Chapel was given an Award of Recognition!
The winning paintings from the event (including this one) are on display at the Swope Art Museum from July 14-Aug 19, and all others painted over those 3 days are on display at the Arts Illiana Gallery for the same time period.
8 x 8 ins, Oil on Linen Panel
I painted this from my front porch this afternoon, an exhilarating experience. It was a crisp, clear, windy December day. My focus was the large maple tree in the middle of the front lawn, and the way the nearly-setting sun was lighting it, although by the time I finished (an hour later) the light had pretty much gone from the tree.
I took a lot of artistic license with the view and completely removed the houses across the street (their complexity and presence did not add to my ideas about the tree), so this is not actually the view from our porch, but my ideas about the tree and the light this afternoon. I loved doing it.
Oil on canvas panel, 9 x 12 ins
Our third Plein Air class was in the middle of very quiet Amish countryside, near New Wilmington, PA. The three of us stood within in a fairly small area but all chose different views, so came away with three totally different paintings.
I liked these big trees overshadowing the farmhouse buildings, with the big barn a little closer to me. There were numerous Amish buggies coming and going, and horses being used to plow the fields, so almost the only noise was of horses’ hooves. Altogether a very peaceful three hours of painting.
For our second 3 hour lesson we went to a rural area and found a pumpkin field. One fascinating aspect of painting outdoors with other people is that we can stand in a small area together and produce totally different paintings!
My choice of view and subject was based on the pumpkins leading up to the white barns, which are silhouetted by the dark trees. I also liked including the distant hills. I had a strong sense of representing the feel of what was in front of me rather than the exact image. To that end I ‘moved’ the pumpkins around quite a bit!
marymayhewart 