Plein air painting from my hot rod...

I went to New Castle Commons on the New Hampshire sea coast to do some plein air painting of the ocean today...and by plein air, I mean I wimped out and painted on my lap in the front seat of my hot rod...and by hot rod, I mean my 2005, grey Chevy Equinox tripped out with two baby seats in the back...Nice! Above is my Guerilla pochade box with a 6x8 wood panel...I'm laying in the big shapes as you can see...some ocean and sky. I'm using a simplified pallet, from left to right: Titanium white, Cad Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cad red, Aliz Crimson, Ultra Blue, Cobalt, Viridian, Burnt Sienna and Ivory black...there is a little Liquin in my pallet cup there too. At this point above, I'm only painting with a rag wrapped around my finger and rubbing in color. Brushes come later.
This is my default painting location, there is simply so much to paint by the ocean and these Commons have two light houses, a beach, craggy rocks and distant headlands...
I took these photos from my new Iphone...if you are familiar with Iphone technology and you happen to be an outdoor painter, you may interested to know that I used a cool App for plein air painters called the Digital View catcher, a compositional view finder for artist.

The small portable pochade box makes painting eazy-peazy. It stores 15 tubes of paint, liquin, pallet cup and even my small brush washer in the storage compartment below...it holds two wet panels and also has a tripod attachment on the bottom. Its perfect for painting a quick study just about anywhere.

If you would like to join me outdoors for plein air painting, I am teaching classes every Tuesday from 1:00 - 4:00, you are welcome to drop in for a session or sign up for a half dozen, I hope you can join us on a coming Tuesday afternoon. We are out there from March through December. We meet from 1:00 to 4:00 at different locations around the New Hampshire sea coast (and sometimes southern Maine). We discuss outdoor painting techniques, materials and artistic principles. Classes are demo and critique based and appropriate for beginners to pros. For more info including weekly painting locations or materials list, see my web sight or click this link: Todd Bonita Plein air painting.

Or call me at (603) 819-9100

Cherries

There are stacks of almost finished paintings in my studio and it gave me a little anxiety when I reported for duty this morning. In the interest of completing something, I grabbed the smallest work-in-progress I could find and started painting. I finished "Cherries" by lunch time and almost finished another small painting by the end of the day. Perhaps tomorrow I will close the door on another if I can simply resist the temptation to start something new. I think I would be better off if I could harness some discipline in this area. Anyhoot, I have a really nice little gold frame I'm going to put this in and send it off to Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown.

Plein air painting opening day in New Castle, NH

This is Sheila, smiling and shielding herself from the wind on opening day of my Tuesday Plein air painting classes. 45 degrees, sunny and windy but we managed to enjoy ourselves like giddy kids in a candy store. Today was about jumping in and committing to being better painters. We simplified our pallets to six colors plus white (a warm and cool of the three primaries). We looked at the landscape and tried to simplify it into abstract puzzle shapes of value and color within a picture plain. In the interest of finding a balance between academics and expression, we jumped in with brushes, pallet knives and squinting eyes and frankly had a genuine blast. I hope you can join us on a coming Tuesday afternoon.



Plein air painting classes are every Tuesday from March through December. We meet from 1:00 to 4:00 at different locations around the New Hampshire sea coast (and sometimes southern Maine). We discuss outdoor painting techniques, materials and artistic principles. Classes are demo and critique based and appropriate for beginners to pros. For more info including weekly painting locations or materials list, see my web sight or click this link: Todd Bonita Plein air painting.
Or call me at (603) 819-9100

Gingerbread Square Gallery, Key West, FL

I'm thrilled to report that I have developed a new relationship with Key West, Floridas Oldest gallery, THE GINGERBREAD SQUARE GALLERY on Duval street. They have been in business for 37 years and represent some top name artist like Anne Packard from Cape Cod, Mike Palmer, Sal Salinero amongst others. They have invited me to be part of an exhibition that opens this evening with an opening reception from 5:30 to 8:30. If you are in the area tonight or anytime in the future, please come and see some very rich art work in a very classy gallery.