Member Registration Opens August 5th, 2017 10:00 a.m.
Member Fee: $60
Non-Member Registration Opens September 2nd , 2017
Non-Member Fee: $65
Not a Member? Consider joining.
Registration Deadline:
September 30th, unless the program is full prior to this date.
Raindate: October 14th 2017
Plein Air painting is a wonderful addiction, a chance to be outside and to paint Maryland forests, farmyards and local villages.
The instructor, Diane Gibson, has been plein air painting in Maryland and while hiking for many years in England, France, and China. Foremost influences on her style have included Tony Couch, Fritz Briggs, John Salminen, Tony van Hasselt, and the famed English painters, David Curtis and Edward Seago.
As a 40 year member and past President of the Baltimore Watercolor Society, she believes that improvement in one’s painting involves continually taking courses whenever you can as well as painting in the studio and outside on a regular basis. Accepting the inevitable frustration and maintaining the courage to solve a conceptual or a technical problem area in your painting is essential to success.
This Plein Air event will take place at a farm in northern Baltimore County and will teach you how to:
Plan and arrange a composition based on a scene which attracts you
Position three values—light, medium & dark
Use a limited palette of six warm and cool primary watercolors
Use a majority of soft and a minimum of hard edges.
This one-day course will include:
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a brief orientation lecture,
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a watercolor demonstration,
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individual instruction and a group critique
Registration Deadline: September 30th, unless the program is full prior to this date.
Hints to Successful Plein Air Painting
COMPOSITION
Horizon line—3/4 up or 3/4 down paper
Center of Interest:
upper left or upper right
lower left or lower right
Size of shapes: Papa, Mama, Baby
repetition and alternation in shapes and color (ex: fence, telephone pole, weeds)
VALUES
Three values: light, medium and dark
Plein air values: sky is light, foreground is medium, uprights (ex: trees) have darks
Popular arrangement of values: center of focus is light (ex: building)
surrounded by some darks (ex: trees) or reverse (dark house surrounded by light)
Counterpoint: darkest dark against lightest light at center of interest
Cool colors against warm colors; texture against non texture, areas of calm against complex area
COLOR
Limited palette: six colors, two each of warm and cool blue, (Ultramarine Blue,
Phalo Blue, warm and cool yellow (Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow), warm and
cool red (Cadmium Red, Alizarin Red) Also Burnt Sienna
Mix two cool colors for bright color; mix one warm and one cool for muted color
Warmer colors advance (foreground), cooler colors recede (background)
aerial perspective involves values and colors diminishing in intensity as
landscape recedes into distance
EDGES
80% soft edges, especially in far distance, 20% sharp edges in center of interest
Drag brush sideways to create rough texture on building and grasses
Recommended supplies:
Artist quality watercolors including:
Ultramarine Blue
Pthalo Blue
Cadmium Red
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Yellow
Lemon Yellow
Burnt Sienna
Paper: Arches ¼ or ½ sheets or
16” x 20” or 12” x 16” blocks
Brushes: large 1” to 2” flat brush, # 6 or #8 round brush, small liner
Easel, water container, masking tape, pink eraser, Kleenex, sponge and umbrella to either put into the ground or on your easel to protect you from the sun.
Don’t forget to bring your lunch and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow artists!
Location and directions will be sent to registrants prior to event.
For online registration, visit: www.bws.wildapricot.org and go to Public Events.
