Katherine Farrell - Blog: plein air

10/27/2023 4:09:33 PM

12 Lessons for Painting in Windy Conditions

Katherine P Farrell / 2 Comments

Painting in the Wind

The autumn colors and cooler weather make October my favorite month to paint outdoors. Wilde Lake was particularly wild that day of Color Columbia (a plein air event organized by the Columbia Association) but everything else was perfect.

1. I found a relatively sheltered spot. Everything is relative. Wind loves open vistas and so do artists.

2. I usually hold my palette, but clipped it securely to my supplies cart and kept one hand free to grab whatever threatened to blow away. Who knew that alligator clips are vital art supplies?

3. S hooks are also useful art supplies. I weighed down my easel using my art bin full of tubes of paint hung from my easel. Some people use rocks.

4. I turned my easel sideways to the wind and dug the feet into the undergrowth but it still felt like it might take off at any moment so I kept one hand free to hold it steady.

5. I selected a wood panel which doesn't act as much of a sail as canvas would. I kept it relatively small for the same reason.

6. Forget about hats and umbrellas. They blow away. Tuck in scarves and wear pants, not a skirt. Anything that can flap around will find paint. It's a rule.

7. I had baby wipes, a trash bag, and shop towels handy in case of disaster. The trash bag stayed in my cart instead of clipped to my easel. Trash bags also act like sails.

8. I know its handy to have turps or substititute close to hand but in wind it needs to be secured to something other than the easel or just left on the ground where it cant fall any farther.

9. Bring plenty of change for the cussword jar and try not to use strong language around innocent bystanders.

10. If all else fails, clean up. I wipe off as much as I can if paint hits dirt. Then I scuff loose dirt over what remains so it doesn't get on somebodies shoes. If paint gets on public seating it's particularly bad, so thats where baby wipes and elbow grease come in.

11. A palette knife and a tweezers are your friends. Almost anything, grass sand, feathers, pine needles, bugs, etc can be removed from a wet painting and might just make it feel more authentic, although I had a friend whose painting ended up face down on her palette. Ugh!

12. If all this feels daunting, you are not alone. It might be fine to just come back another day....but for plein air events rules are rules.

11/19/2020 12:40:43 PM

Key West Plein Aire finds a home

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Katherine Farrell

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February 21st, 2019 - 08:27 PM

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I always travel with my oil painting supplies but finding a good place to paint in a new place can be challenging. There is usually no shortage of scenery and Key West had lots of natural beauty, but if you paint from direct observation, you have to find a spot where you can set up safely and not be in anyones way. If you are traveling by car, a safe place to park must be found, and if you walk from your hotel it must be close enough to lug all your equipment, oh and it helps to be within reasonable distance of toilet facilities. So I was excited to find a spot near our hotel in Key West that met all these requirements with a gorgeous view of the sea and a smattering of distant boats. The day was perfect too. There was almost no wind, and the small clouds cast shadows that looked violet over the turquoise sea. I was ready with my already loaded pallette and a small canvas previously primed with some faint pink acrylic paint.

My husband helped carry some of my supplies before he left me to my painting and then he departed to do some sightseeing with our travel companions. He carefully checked my chosen spot. Not too busy, not too isolated. Not too near traffic but not really remote. He made sure I could actually carry everything back on my own.

I spent a while sketching and deciding on what composition I wanted and then picked out the big shapes with vine charcoal. I wanted to try out a new medium I had brought with me as a substitute for the usual medium I use (a mix of turpenoid, linseed oil and a touch of Damar varnish). That can be a problem for oil painters who travel since some of the components are prohibited on planes.I usually look for mineral spirits when I get to a new location but it can be hard to find, and I hate to leave almost full containers behind when its time to fly home. Instead I brought a synthetic gel medium and lots of brushes since I would not be able to clean them properly as I painted. It worked beautifully and I was actually able to clean most of the brushes fairly well with paper towels in the field and later used soap and water to clean them before packing them away.

After a few blissful hours in the zone, I had captured the scene to my satisfaction, when I had a visitor. A young man asked if he could see my work and was excited to see I had painted his boats as part of the scene. He made me an offer and I agreed on a sale. He got a bargain because I discounted it considerably since I wouldn't have to carry it home wet, frame it or find a place to show it and there was no commission due to anyone. I was happy to find someone who loved it and was willing to buy it there and then.

He took a selfie with me and the painting and I gave him my card. He arranged to meet me next morning in the hotel lobby and texted me later in the afternoon to say his wife loved the photo of the painting too. Next morning he was right on time with the cash in an envelope. He was happy because he liked my choices, especially that I included his boats. It was my first time selling a wet painting straight off the easel. I suggested he wait a month before framing it and off he went.

This experience really brought together for me my reasons for painting, The joy of the process has been my main motivation but the knowledge that it spoke to someone and brought them joy too is, for me, like a kind of completion. Painting seems to me like a language that it has been my privilege to learn. Its so nice to know its not a one way conversation.