Plein Air Oil Pastel of Minooka Park Beach

acrylic class still life

In process painting. Really like the pear on the left. Pears are really fun to paint.

Plein Air Oil Pastel of Back Bay Park up from Milwaukee's Lake front

Plein Air Oil Pastels of the Menomonee River on Wisconsin/Michigan border

I really enjoy traveling with my husband. He drops me off at places to paint. I had a really good time on Saturday painting. At first there wasn't anyone around but then a bunch of fishing boats went by and a bachelor party dropped anchor to fish, etc. on the island across the way. One bachelor swam across to look at my pictures. Towards the end of the day several fishing boats drifted by and a whole slew of canoes joined the bachelor party. I really enjoy painting outside with the natural observing and interacting with nature and people.

Some Pencil Sketches

2nd Acrylic Class

Fred just touches the tip of his brush to the piles of paint on the palette. He also scrubs the paint on sometimes with the brush. These are stiff brushes so should hold up pretty well. Here's my in process still life from the class.

Plein Air Sketches of houses in Greendale Village

First I made a pencil sketch, then did an oil pastel sketch.

Acrylic Class

Had my first class with Fred Bell last night. We did a still life. First he demonstrated then we worked on our pieces. He's going to teach us different approaches. Last night he started with a pencil sketch first then painted on top of it. One point I learned last night is that ellipses are usually fatter on the "vertical" sides than on the "horizontal" edges. He used the following colors in big tubes from Utrecht: titanium white, black, medium yellow, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw sienna, alizarin. He uses foam plates for his palette, canvas boards and a princeton 6300R #6 or #8 brush. I like the brush. It works really well. It's kind of stiff. Here's my first attempt. I'm going to keep working on it at home.

Plein Air Sketch & Painting of Wehr Nature Center Path

First a pencil sketch followed by and oil pastel painting.

Plein Air Sketches on KK & Bay St in Bayview

First I did a quick pencil sketch to orientate myself then did the oil pastel. I was trying to do the "counterpane" technique where you put light against dark and cool against warm. Plus warmer colors to the front and cooler to the back along with making the furthest away house cooler and less distinct. Orange and a bright blue blended together make a real nice gray.