Plein Air "Paint Out"

"Above Mt. Pleasant"

8 x 16

SOLD

I have recently returned from a five day "Paint Out" in the mountains of North Carolina. The Paint Out was sponsored by The Crossnore Gallery, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Crossnore School. The week was capped off by a reception and live auction, where our paintings were sold to benefit the school's Stepping Stones Program.

Twelve artists were invited to participate, and we were directed to different parts of Avery County for each painting day. As a visitor who is not familiar with the area, it was a real challenge for me to find my "spots" for painting. First of all, I wanted to find a motif that would allow me to express the concept I was after. In painting landscapes, I was looking for "jumps in space"--a series of receding planes that would allow me to create a sense of spaciousness and depth in my painting. Here is my setup where I did the painting shown above:

I felt lucky to have scouted out the spot shown above. It is a tiny turnaround on the narrow mountain road. Beautiful scenes abound in the mountains, but it's not easy to find a place to stand so you can paint them--you need a place where you won't be run over by a car, or bitten by a dog, or arrested for trespass. I hear that they have shotguns in these parts!  (For a Wall Street Journal article on these and similar travails of outdoor painting, click here). Thankfully, each landowner I approached was kind enough to grant permission to go on his or her property to paint. Here's a scene just off Stamey Branch Road, which I painted from the driveway of a neighbor:

"Stamey Branch Road"

8 x 10
SOLD

One of my favorite paintings of the week depicts a white frame church (circa 1860) in a clearing above Valle Crucis. The churchyard is on a bluff overlooking distant ridges. All of the different green hues presented a real challenge in this painting, but I liked the way it came together.

"St. John's Church, Valle Crucis"

8 x 10

SOLD

For my last painting, I returned to my original concept--that the landscape is about SPACE and spaciousness. In this painting, my goal was to fine tune the colors of the foreground, the middleground and the distance. If these color relationships are right, one needs very little detail in the painting to tell the viewer what he sees. If you can sense the expanse of the pasture and the distance to the far ridge, then I have succeeded.

"Near Valley Crucis"

8 x 8

I will post again soon with more from the Paint Out. Right now it's time to catch my breath. Sorry the photos in this post are not up to my usual standard---I had to improvise in photographing these paintings in the field.