November 2009

 Well, maybe it's always sunny in Philadelphia, but here in Atlanta it is dark before 6pm. But I'm not going to let that stop me from plein air painting! Back in May I went to a workshop with Marc Hanson and he told us about how he enjoys nocturnal painting and uses the Mighty Bright to light his canvas and pallette. I gave it a try in downtown Minneapolis later that week, and while the light did its job, I didn't make the right adjustments for the values after dark. Through the summer the days were long enough that I didn't have a good opportunity, but that changed recently with the shift back to standard time. So tonight I went out and stood out in the middle of Freedom Park and painted the waning gibbous behind a big silhouetted tree with some nice street lights in the background. I surprised several night bikers and joggers who didn't expect to see someone off the bike path painting under a set of book lights. There are some good advantages to the night painting. For starters, your lighting conditions don't change (at least not until sunrise). The dark areas are simple and fun to paint and you can really work on mood, edges and making your lights stand out. You also kind of feel like Batman or something, going out into the pitch black and setting up. I'm going to take advantage of the nearly full moon while I can, then next week move to some night street scenes.

"Freedom Park at Night"

9x12 oil on panel

SOLD

This last week I've been getting ready for the big show 12/5 and 12/6. Mainly, I took a bunch of paintings off to Digital Arts Studio to be scanned with their Star Wars-y scanner. I'll have an assortment of prints and notecards available at the show, and other pieces will be available to ship within 2 business days. I ordered new display grid walls that I have to pick up next week, and I also will need to do some fast framing when I get the paintings back from Digital Arts Studio. So the next few weeks will be busy. This is going to be a great show, and I hope you can make it.

Also, be sure to sign up for the newsletter. I am going to make a few 'subscriber only' prints/notecards and at a special rate for you that have been kind enough to share me your email.