Day 2 of EAST Austin Studio Tour was a huge success for the Plein Air Austin group show! Lots of foot traffic at arguably the best location in the entire EAST show at EASTBOUND, a beautiful facility that had lots of people asking “how the hell did @pleinairaustin pull this off?!” Join us at a paint-out or better yet become a member and find out all our secrets.
On a personal note, I’m honored to have sold 3 original pieces this weekend. Headed to new homes are “Smoky On Ice”, “Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse 2”, and “Strolling Dog.”
Exciting news on the art event front… I’ll be participating in the 31st edition of the Austin Studio Tour the weekend of November 16 & 17th! For those of you in the Austin area, if you haven’t checked out the studio tour in the past, I highly recommend it, even if I weren’t involved. It’s a very rare Austin event that’s chock full of talented artists, free of charge, and it doesn’t take over Zilker Park or Auditorium Shores for the month!
The Austin Studio Tour, in a nutshell: over the course of two weekends, more than 400 artists open up their studios or display in public spaces/galleries… for FREE! The city is basically split into East and West sides (I35 being the demarcation), whereby weekend 1 is “WEST” studio tour, and weekend 2 is what I like to call the OG “EAST” studio tour.
Weekend 1 is today and tomorrow, Nov 9 & 10th, weekend 2 is Nov 16 & 17th. Official opening times are noon – 6pm each day, but there are some that open beyond those times, including Friday evening.
I’m stop #327 at a building called EASTBOUND located at 3232 E Cesar Chavez St. I’ll be joined by a dozen of my painting friends from Plein Air Austin, well, more like I’ll be joining them, so visitors get a chance to see a TON of art at a single location.
I’ll have at least 20 pieces of original artwork for sale, including a bunch of new pieces that will make their debut at this show. It’s a mix of plein air originals, studio work, and per some interest from friends and family I’ll be adding some drawings to the mix.
Stay tuned for more updates, including a list of other artists showcasing their talents at our location, live plein air demo details, and “Beers with Bern” after party locations.
Get out and explore the talent of Austin artists! Hope to see y’all next weekend!
ACORN STREET progress ACORN STREET | 12×9 | Oil on Art Board
As promised, here is the finished work (maybe) of the ACORN STREET study. I say “maybe” because I might opt to add people and give it more activity, but I also like the calm, quiet morning vibe this gives off. I’m guessing the early mornings are the favorite time for the residents of this street as the tourist throngs are still in their AirBnBs second guessing why they hadn’t opted for a hotel with an in-room coffee machine and room service.
I wanted to ensure value contrasts and a loose painting style were key elements of this piece. The flag and sunlit building opposite were intended to draw the viewer down the street, which wasn’t difficult to do as this composition kinda designed itself. The big challenge since the original progress post was adjusting the light from the photo reference so that it realistically “hit” the flag, which meant letting it sneak up the end of the street more than was originally planned.
Lastly, the cobblestones were a last minute addition. I was trying to avoid anything too detailed in an effort to keep the painterly feel, but anyone who’s been on this street knows the cobblestones are integral to the charm. I need to refine my technique in future work, but there are a lot of cobblestone streets that I’d love to paint in the future!
New work-in-progress, ACORN STREET, oil on canvas board. This piece is also serving the purpose of a study for a larger composition, provided it turns out well. It’s off to a good start, though, but it will take a few more hours on the easel to get there. The perspective and values are solid and should provide the foundation for an eye-grabbing painting.
This was also my first session as a student in an open studio class taught by Robin Cheers. Her artwork is beautiful, very painterly, and really captures a sense of place and activity. As an instructor, she made a very strong first impression and provided some great insights that will go a long way to improve my technique.
This piece is inspired by the bat colony under the Congress bridge in Austin, Texas, but note they are not the focal point. The 56 silhouettes along the bridge are the intended focal point, which as a group, show the evening observations of the bats on a summer evening. However, as you look at each individual person, you can see how their experience is unique. Hopefully you, as the observer, have some emotional response to some of these folks.
The sun plays a big part in this composition, cascading it’s golden light across the landscape, creating some strong value contrasts not only on the horizon, but also on the silhouettes, especially those on the right side of the bridge. It also creates a balance between warm and cool hues, with subtle purples in the middle creating a temperature transition. Lastly, the sun has been finished with a palette knife for an impasto effect, which helped amp up the brilliance.
Another element of the composition is the use of the 1.5” edge of the canvas, allowing the bats and silhouettes to flow around the frame. The figures on each side are looking into the painting, which should help direct observers into the composition.
Stay tuned for additional bridge silhouette paintings!
The bats are coming! This is a skrawing, or is it a dretch… I dunno, whatever you call the in between gray area of an informal sketch and a structured drawing. Regardless, the plan is to do a larger piece, at least by my standards, of the iconic Austin bats departing their home under the Congress Street bridge.
The focal point will be the silhouettes of the people on the bridge, secondarily the bats. The anchor, not something that’s officially a painting term as far as I know, will be the brilliant sun in the lower right corner, which is very tricky in a drawing, so you’ll have to use your imagination. The value contrasts will be extreme, so balance is going to be key. Why I’m attempting this is beyond me…
Shoreline Park in Santa Barbara is one of those places that almost makes the cost of existing in California understandable. Stunning views of the ocean, cool breezes, and sunsets that make you say “C’mon! Seriously!”
If I lived in the area I would definitely do a number of plein air sessions at this location, but I had to settle for personal photos taken while strolling the shoreline. Interestingly, I started this piece a couple months ago, then set it aside and just didn’t get back to it for awhile. In that gap I managed to inadvertently delete my reference photo!
Turns out my bonehead move was a bit of good fortune as it forced me to work from memory and not a photo reference. Turns out I rely too much on photo details, which often distort values and hues, and it was easier to capture the essence of this scene without the distraction.
As to the composition itself, this was the first time I’d done something with such a strong sun. While it’s not meant to be the focal point, it’s the source of brilliant light that envelops the palms and makes them spectacular. From a design perspective, I wanted to incorporate some strong contrasts between the tops and bottoms of the palms, whereby the tops were more painterly and softened, while the bases were structured and crisp. The intent is to have the viewer drawn to the center of the palms bathed in sunlight, but then move up and down the trees to see the different light effects.
Lastly I’ll note the intentional exclusion of people, picnic tables, cars, and other such signs of humanity. Sometimes that’s done because I’m lacking motivation (or skill) to tackle those details, but in this instance it’s a nod to Santa Barbara as the source of Earth Day, which was started here way back in 1969.
3 BOATS ON CASCO (study) | 5×8” | graphite on paper
Figuring out why a composition is failing can be a real challenge at times. If the painting fundamentally sucks, I know it’s a lack of talent or experience on my part. Sometimes, however, it just doesn’t look right. It’s on this latter front that I often find myself with boats.
Granted, I don’t have extensive experience painting seascapes that highlight boats. They’re tricky and I believe lots of practice is the key to get the blizzard of weird angles, maddening levels of detail, and the reality that they move constantly, even when anchored, working in concert as a composition.
Last week I did a short plein air session of boats – it was a total failure, although the outing itself was great time spent on the coast. I decided to try drawing the same scene in the studio to see if I could figure out the issues. As it turns out, this small study solved a lot of problems, of which there were 2 big ones.
First, the viewing angle was too steep, meaning it works better with a more horizontal perspective. The painting I had done was simply too aerial, probably in part because I was standing on a pier and secondly it was low(ish) tide, so everything was below my line of sight.
Secondly, the composition included something very unusual, namely Fort Gorges, which is literally a Civil War era fort seemingly floating around in Casco Bay. It’s an iconic part of the Bay for those who know Portland, Maine, but for those “from away”, it’s basically a big ‘ol WTF part of the horizon. It’s made all the more confusing to the uninitiated because it has a tree filled square in it’s center, which makes Fort What-the-Fuck even more awkward with what looks like a Jolly Green Giant broccoli patch springing skyward. How does one work that convincingly into a composition. NOBODY!
Upon realization that Fort WTF needed to be ignored, aka artistic license, the final version of the drawing was complete. Note that in the pictures there is a before and after version to show the impact of using a drastic design decision to make the composition work. Whaddya think?
UMBRELLA IN SHADE (study) | 5×8” | graphite on paper
This is a plein air sketch from my rental backyard in Maine, which has a big, red umbrella as well as a massive oak tree for shade. At certain times of day the umbrella gets shaded by the oak tree, which creates a neat value contrast underneath. While I didn’t get the pass through lighting just right, its always satisfying to get an object like an umbrella properly drawn.
On a compositional note, I definitely will look to do a future painting of an umbrella from this underneath perspective. I really like the mystery it creates whereby the viewer has no idea what’s happening on the table, or even in the background below 3 or 4 feet. Oddly enough, the lack of a “bottom” seems to continually redirect me back into the composition. Does it work that way for you, too?
This study doesn’t make the cut for a “real” painting, but it was fun to draw, so perhaps I might try another angle one day soon. In the meantime I’ll keep an eye out around town for a bright, colorful patio umbrella for a proper painting effort.
Greetings from South Portland, Maine! Plein air sessions in the July Texas heat aren’t exactly an inspirational setting for creativity, so this piece is brought to you by the cool breezes of the land of 75,000 moose.
This garage was painted over the course of 3 short sessions in the mid/late afternoon. The shadows created by the sun really make the garage door pop, so I wanted make that the clear focal point without making the white to prominent. The final solution was to tweak it so the black window of the door was the primary focus, using the high contrast in values with the white door as an easy viewing vortex.
In terms of the other elements, a lot of artistic license was taken to pare down the details and keep things simple. That said, it was important for me to include the iron fence and the color of the garage. The fence because the ironwork is very eye catching given the design. As to the green hue of the garage, while I’ll admit it’s not my preferred color, I wanted anyone who’s seen this house and garage to instantly recognize it as “hey, it’s that green garage!”
Lastly, I made a decision in the final minutes of painting, after having thought I was done, which significantly improved the finished piece. Because I don’t have a before and after shot, I can only describe what I did, which was to add the high contrast “rows” on the garage, then scraping down to give the sense of textured panels. I was pretty sure the move was going to muddle the whole thing, but as it turns out it was a vast improvement. I must learn to be much aggressive when painting and this sessions went a long way in validating that approach.
Art Bern 