2016 Pacific Northwest Plein Air

The Pacific Northwest Plein Air Event runs this weekend, September 26 - 28! 

Gorge Voyage, 9pm, oil on panel, 12" x 18"

This is the 12^th annual Plein Air Event in the Columbia River Gorge and I’ve been fortunate to participate every year since its inception in 2005. Adding more excitement to this year’s event, the exhibition of paintings will be hosted for the first time at the Maryhill Museum of Art.

The opening reception is  Friday, August 26, from 5 - 7pm. 

  

       The public is invited to view the paintings artists created in plein air, meet the artists and enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres. Artwork will be available for purchase.

Exhibition continues Saturday & Sunday (Aug 27 & 28) at Maryhill Museum of Art; hours are10 a.m. to 5 p.m. exhibit is free with paid museum admission. Paintings will also be for sale.

Plein Air on live TV! 

I was featured this week on KATU morning news, along with friends Aimee Erickson and Thomas Kitts, while we were painting the sunrise in Stevenson, WA. It was a wonderful way to give the public an insight on plein air painting and help promote the event. You can view my interview here. 

Hope to see you out at Maryhill! 

More information on the event is at www.maryhillmuseum.org.

The Sky Suite

My most recent exhibition of paintings, entitled The Sky Suite, opens in November at Brian Marki Fine Art in Portland, OR.  As the name suggests, this year’s show explores the dynamic qualities of skies and clouds. 

So, why clouds?

Painting skies, and clouds in particular, has been a long-standing interest of mine and has been a theme in my work for years.  Capturing the unique atmosphere and light of the Pacific Northwest continues to be one of my main intensions through my landscape paintings. In addition, I’ve always been drawn to both abstract and representational painting. I recall a former painting instructor who stated, “the best representational work is abstract and the best abstract work is realistic.” This still resonates. 

So, this recent foray into painting skies and clouds, for me, has been the perfect marriage of plein air, representational, and abstract painting.

Humble, Practical Beginnings…

This series of paintings had a very practical beginning, well over a year and a half ago.  Needing to “kick the tires” on an early batch of Gamblin’s Solvent-Free Gel that I was developing, I had to get some painting done one evening.  With my better half working late and watching my boys in the backyard, I simply set up my plein air gear and looked up.  The glowing clouds in the late spring sky become my available subject matter, so I knocked out a few 6” x 6” studies. These early paintings are included in the show and sparked the whole series.

The Sky Suite opens November 1^st at Brian Marki Fine Art in Portland, OR.  Show runs through the month. 

Pacific Northwest Plein Air - 2013!

Now in its ninth year, it's an honor to participate in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air show, which opens at the Columbia Arts Center in Hood River, OR, this Friday, Sept. 6th. Every year this show gets better and better and is now starting to draw terrific artists from throughout the western U.S.  This show is ALWAYS worth the short hour drive from Portland!

I've been fortunate to take part in this show since its inception in 2005 and having the opportunity to paint out in the Columbia River Gorge never tires. This area is more than deserving to be on the map of great plein air destinations in the country.

Below is a preview of three of the five paintings submitted to this years' show. The top two were painted on the first day of the Paint Out last Friday.  Finishing off the day of painting with a pint at the Full Sail Brewery ain't too shabby either...

Clouds & Orchards, 11" x 14" Oil. 

Mt Hood Foothills, 12" x 12" Oil. 

And then one from earlier in the summer...

Gorge View, 6" x 7 1/2" Oil.

Workshop Recap - Cooper Mt. Natural Area

Hats off to all the wonderful participants who braved the near-one hundred-degree heat to paint together at the Cooper Mountain Natural Area! Luckily for us, there was enough shade to paint from and we managed to pack the 8-hour workshop with plenty of painting and color discussions.

 Paintings by Kay Elmore. Photos by Nancy Klos.

Cooper Mountain Natural Area provides terrific lessons in atmospheric perspective as well as mixing diverse greens. We all worked from the same "split-primary" color palette, using a warm and cool for each of the primary.  From this, I gave a demonstration on subtractive color mixing and mixing greens with the colors at hand. 

Color demo. 

I had all of the students come with a 12" x 16" panel taped off into four sections for them to produce four paintings throughout the day. The small scale as well as the time constraints prevented them from getting to detailed in their work and focus on economy of mark-making. This proved to be a welcome challenge for many of the students, but most of them got all four paintings completed throughout the course of the day. 

Below are my demonstrations from the day. My next Portland-area workshop is July 28th at the Blue Heron Herbary on Sauvie Island.  If you're interested in joining us to paint the lavender, please let me know - only a few spots remain! 

Smith Rock Paint Out: Good Weather, Great Scenery, Excellent Ice Cream

I felt my status as a native Oregon became in jeopardy about a week ago after I went to Smith Rock for the first time. Hard to believe I hadn't been there before. After a brief visit, the family and I were itching to get back and spend more time there...luck would have it that I saw a poster for the First Annual Smith Rock Paint Out to take place the following weekend.

Put on by the High Dessert Art League, this was a free event for artists to come and paint the wondrous beauty of the popular state park.  Word has it that about seventy artists showed up to paint...not bad for the first time!

Only two and a half hours from Portland, painting on the other sides of the Cascades offers such a different color palette to work from compared to our "green, green and more green" surroundings of the Willamette Valley. 

Part of this event was a competition, where four paintings were awarded. This small 8" x 10" painting, which was my second piece done on that day, took 2nd place: 

Smith Ravine, oil on panel, 2013

Of course, the real prize was simply the opportunity to spend half the day painting at an amazing location and having my wife and kids enthralled with the hiking trails throughout the park. All of our efforts were rewarded by huckleberry ice cream, so conveniently offered at the shop adjacent to the park.  Well played, ice cream guy...

Additional info on this event can be found at http://www.smithrockpaintout.com/. 

Summer 2013 Plein Air Workshop Calendar

Join me and other like-minded artists for a series of plein air workshops this summer throughout Oregon and Washington. Each workshop will focus on color theory, developing a plein air color palette, and composition - while working directly from the region’s diverse landscape. Each workshop will include painting demonstrations, short and long painting sessions, and both individual and group critiques. If you’ve never painted plein air before or if you need an excuse to dust off your easel, this series of workshops will propel your painting skills to the next level.


Sunday, June 30th - near Portland, OR.  Cooper Mountain Nature Park
This sweeping, atmospheric vista in rural Washington County an easy location to find and a comfortable location for Plein Air painting. The perfect venue for a lesson in aerial perspective! Cooper Mountain Info


Friday, July 19th - Whidbey Island, WA. 
This half-day workshop, entitled The Vitality of Plein Air, focuses on the spirit of plein air painting in capturing the essence of your surroundings with expressive brushwork and thoughtful design. This workshop is preceded by a FREE Gamblin lecture demonstration.  Whidbey Island Fine Arts, Gellatly Workshop


Saturday, July 20 - Sunday, July 21 - Mt. Vernon, WA
This workshop will investigate the three main components of COLOR (Value, Hue, and Chroma) through plein air painting in the beautiful Skagit Valley. We will work with each component of color individually through small plein air studies, and then tie them all together during longer painting sessions. This workshop is preceded by a FREE Gamblin lecture demonstration. Dakota Art Center, Gellatly Workshop 


Sunday, July 28th - near Portland, OR.  Blue Heron Herbary, Sauvie Island
Blue Heron Herbary is located on Sauvie Island on the banks of the Columbia River. The garden is in a natural setting bordered by a wildlife refuge where waterfowl, eagles, cranes and of course, blue herons abound. This is a terrific site for both intimate and expansive painting subjects.  www.blueheronherbary.com

Sunday, August 4th - near Portland, OR. Willow Residence, Sauvie Island 
Right on the beach of the Columbia River, this location offers a number of expansive views along the river and into the farmlands of Washington State.


Saturday, August 17th - Sunday, August 18th - Bainbridge Island, WA
Let a quick ferry ride from Seattle transport you to beautiful Bainbridge Island, and join a thriving artistic community for this two-day plein air workshop.  http://www.winslowartcenter.com/

Please contact me with any questions and for registration and pricing information.

 

Plein Air Convention 2013

The Plein Air Convention, now in its second year, did not disappoint.  With overall attendance up over a hundredfold from last year, the level of enthusiasm and sense of camaraderie among the painters in attendance was overwhelming.  

This event is a highlight for me throughout the year. I welcome the opportunity to wear two hats at an event like this – my work for Gamblin allows me to support a community in which I feel so aligned as an artist.

I was thrilled to use this opportunity to talk about a new product that I’ve been developing for well over a year (more on this in an upcoming blog).  To have this new product at the event at all was a “stretch goal” only a couple months ago. The response to the concept, and its working properties was so overwhelmingly positive – so cool to be able to finally share it with the world. 

As a painter, it was amazing to view first-hand the facility displayed by such renowned artists.  Talking shop and painting alongside other plein air artists whose work I admire was such a thrill. I also enjoyed discussing contemporary approaches to plein air painting with other painters – as this is something I strive for in my own work. 

Below are images of my giving a demonstration on Gamblin painting mediums, the first “paint out” along the coastline at Asilomar, as well as an image of my painting from the Monterey marina.

Looking forward to future events with the plein air community!  

Sunlit Marina, oil on panel, 12" x 12", 2013

Atmosphere, Construction and Field Testing

This fall has put on quite the display of light and atmosphere along the Willamette River.  Viewed from the factory parking lot, the manner in which the afternoon light catches the moisture against the hills has served as a constant, nagging muse. Airborne particulates from distant wildfires exaggerates the quality of light and atmosphere.

Only to add to the visual interest is the construction of the new light rail/pedestrian bridge. Sweeping cranes breaking the composition and orange construction material against the blue hills are way too interesting not to paint!

Fortunately, I've been able to take advantage of this on a couple occasions - which also allowed me to kick the tires of some potential new materials.

Here are a couple paintings painted on site in the parking lot:

Pill Hill in Haze, oil on panel, 6" x 6" 

Bridge Building, oil on panel, 8" x 8"

These paintings will be included in my upcoming exhibition, ruralurban, opening this week at Brian Marki Fine Art. 

SG