Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Plein air painting (Chatham, Mass)

This is from my recent plein air painting trip to Chatham, Mass on Cape Cod.

I found this cool little salt box shack near Chatham harbor and started my lay-in.
I'm using the 9x12" Open box M pochade mounted to a tripod and working in oils on an 8x10" wood panel prepared with gesso. In this above photo, I am washing in the local color very loosely with a paper towel and without any drawing. I'm just looking for a loose representation of the big mass shapes, values and colors.
Here above, I am taking my time to measure and draw with paint. I've changed a few things in my composition, like taking out that un-sightly "No Trespassing sign". I felt it was stopping the veiwer from entering the picture plane.
I kept the foliage pretty simple and used it to silhouette the shack. This is about two hours. At the time of this posting, I am almost finished turning this plein air painting into a finished studio painting. I will post that in a few days.

I am teaching a plein air painting class here on the New hampshire seacoast starting next week. It will run on Tuesday afternoons from 1-4pm beginning September 14th. If you would like to join us outdoors painting the New Hampshire sea coast during the most beautiful time of year, please shoot me an email or call me to reserve a space. (603) 819-9100. Here is a link to the workshop details: TODD BONITA PLEIN AIR PAINTING WORKSHOP

2 comments:

Cara said...

Great post! Wish I lived closer -

Todd Bonita said...

Hi Cara,
I wished you lived closer too, that would be fun to get out there with you and move some paint around. How is your health these days? Shoot me an email privately at tmbonita@gmail.com and I will send you info on my painting trip to Monhegan island, Maine in June of next year. Monhegan is the artist island...I'm giving a weekend workshop and it would be great to include you. I hope this finds you well Cara...good to hear from you again.
All my best to you,
Todd