Still different - another plein air teaser

I went back out to my new favourite location this afternoon and, after walking around taking photos for almost two hours, I got my gear together to do a painting before sunset.

I decided, for reasons unknown, to do a large painting this time. In fact, I think this is the biggest plein air painting I've ever done.

I also adopted a style very different to what I usually do. This is an approach that's appealed to me for years and I've occasionally done small sketches that come close, but more by accident than by design. This time I set out with the intention of doing a combination abstract-impressionist piece. I think this style could fairly be labelled contemporary impressionism.

Here's the location shot and, if I ever get a chance, I'll post a proper photo of the finished piece (along with a couple of others I haven't photographed yet.

Something different - plein air in oil

I headed out to my new favourite location this afternoon and decided to try something different to my usual landscapes.

The property sports an old, dilapidated cottage that's overgrown on all sides and provides several opportunities for interesting paintings as the sun moves from one side to the other.

I decided that rather than paint a "pretty" picture of an ageing building nestled in its farmland surrounds, I'd get up close and personal and try to really capture the feeling of the house slowly losing its battle with nature.

Here's the location shot.

I'll post a finished photo and more information soon.

Still doing stuff...

I have a few more videos in progress and will post them as I get them edited.

The editing, including cutting, splicing, voice over and music selection takes far, far, far longer than it takes to do the paintings. But I'm getting there.

For now, here's a couple of teaser images.

The first video will be this plein air oil landscape sketch I painted last weekend.

Stirling afternoon. 
Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board. 
© Andy Dolphin)

I will follow that up with a digital seascape I whipped together a few nights ago, following a request from my (second-)newest sister-in-law. This painting is based on a small section from a plein air seascape oil painting I did at the start of the year. It's nothing too amazing but gives some insight as to how I approach my digital doodles.

Lowlands. 
Digital painting.
 © Andy Dolphin

The first video shouldn't be too far away so keep an eye out for an update.

I filmed another plein air painting session today at a terrific new spot just five minutes from home and where I hope to find quite a few more painting opportunities. I still have to check the footage, because lots of things can go wrong when you do your own video whilst painting - like standing directly in front of the camera so all it sees is the back of your head, forgetting to press "start", kicking the tripod without realising and filming a fence post, glaring reflections, poor focus and much more, not to mention technology itself inventing new and interesting ways to bring a great plan unstuck.

I think it will be okay but that update will be a while away. Keep checking back here or on my Youtube Channel.

Clouds - digital painting

I wanted to do another cloud painting and, with thunderstorms promised, I hoped this afternoon would provide an opportunity. I drove around the countryside for a while but nothing much came of it. The clouds just weren't doing anything useful for me.

We didn't even get the promised storm.

I did, however, revisit a location near Woogenellup. This spot grabs my attention whenever I drive past and it was the subject of a plein air painting, a digital painting and a studio painting three years ago (How time flies. I thought I did them last year!)

I considered doing another plein air sketch there today but with a heavy veil of cloud building in the west, it was apparent that the light was going to fade fast. I did a couple of thumbnail sketches to test some design ideas and see if that would make any difference, but it wasn't going to happen.

This evening, I started doodling in Photoshop and came up with this...

Woogie clouds.
Digital painting. 2200x2970px.  
© 2013, Andy Dolphin

This digital painting was done completely from the memory of what I saw today and what ideas I'd tried in the thumbnails. I guess I looked carefully at the scene for about five minutes, all up. But I didn't even refer to the thumbnails for this painting, just my recollection of them and the three paintings I'd done before.

There are some obvious differences from my earlier paintings, not least of which is the mountain ridge rising from left to right. This is a design decision and does not reflect reality.

The biggest change, though, was to choose a vertical format and make the sky much more important. For the cloud shape, I drew on the memory of my previous plein air cloud painting.

I think it's got possibilities for this, my "Year of the Cloud".

Technical specs: Photoshop CS5, Wacom Graphire 4 tablet using stylus held together with sticky tape, digital brush from Chris Wahl.

Army Art, 2013

After a brief reprieve last year, Army Art returns for the weekend of August 2nd-4th.

This charity fundraiser features quality works from artists around Western Australia and is a significant event on Perth's art calendar. I was honoured to be invited to participate again this year and will be sending three plein air works for exhibition and sale.

Here's the details.

ORIGINAL WORK BY
WEST AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS

Including Painting, Glass, Sculpture & Jewellery

LEEUWIN BARRACKS

Riverside Road, East Fremantle

7pm – 10pm Friday, 2 August 2013

(Attendance by pre-purchased ticket only)

10am – 5pm Saturday, 3 August 2013

10am – 5pm Sunday, 4 August 2013

BENEFICIARIES

Retina Australia WA

Fairholme Disability Support Group

Mark your calendar. I hope to see you there at the opening or on the closing Sunday.

Winter Light - plein air video

It's winter down here in the southern hemisphere so it's been a bit cold and damp lately. However, a few days ago we had scattered showers combined with moments of bright sunlight and this made for interesting painting conditions.

 Winter Light.
Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board. 
© Andy Dolphin

I found a spot beside the highway with a view across farmland to the Porongurup Range. There were clouds draped over the peaks of the range and a strip of sunlight lit up a distant paddock. It was a scene ready for painting and it looked like an interesting subject for my second plein air painting video.

Luckily, the rain held off long enough for me to get the sketch done.


NOTE: You can watch the video here on the blog but I'd recommend going to Youtube and viewing it at full size (click the little "cog" symbol and choose 480p if your internet connection can cope).

Thanks again to Kevin MacLeod, who offers hundreds of royalty-free music tracks on his Incompotech website. 

You can see my first painting video, Barrow Road, on Youtube too.

Australian Artist - second prize!

I was very pleased to read the news that I'd taken out second prize in Australian Artist Magazine's "Seascapes, Rivers & Lakes" Art Prize Challenge No. 52, with my entry "South Coastal".

My painting depicts a location near Denmark, on the south coast of Western Australia. I told the story of it back in February, this year, as part of my Evolution of a Seascape series of articles.

While the location is real and the painting is true to the place, there were quite a lot of design decisions employed to make it something more than "just like a photo".

Winners and finalists are featured in the June, 2013 edition of Australian Artist Magazine.

Congratulations to first-place getter Jayne Henderson from Victoria, third-place getter Craig Addley from Queenlsand and to all the finalists.