2021 was a year of firsts in my painting - art markets, new materials, exhibiting ... and plein air painting.
The first occasion was of my making. I love the Odibourne Allotments near where I live. There are so many potential paintings there - the wonderful variety of housing overlooking them, the calm oasis of the allotments themselves the flowers and plants, painted sheds and the difference of the seasons. When I saw there was an open day coming up I offered my services to paint and to donate the resulting painting to their fundraising.
The weather in August was the first obvious challenge. I really don't fancy painting in the cold and certainly not in the wet. Even a breeze can create a hazard. As it happened the day itself was glorious. I scouted the site a couple of days earlier and chose a spot alongside the main pathway. There was a water trough, some wonderful sunflowers, a painted shed, some greenhouses and the water tower in the background. I sat down at around 10:30am and began so that by the time the first visitors arrived there would be something to see. The second obvious challenge was the moving sun and the intermittent shadow covering. I have two options with watercolour. Take a reference photo early and stick to that as the light and shadow or wait to apply the final shadow and highlights hoping for better light later on - This was the plan I went with and it worked well. By the end of the day I still had quite a lot to do so I took a reference photo to take away with me. The absolute pleasure of the event for me is talking to the people walking by - discussing the painting and being part of the event. I can understand people being nervous about approaching but with me the more the merrier and the more feedback the better. I'm quite happy with the result for a first attempt and I hope it found a good home.
In September, Kenilworth Artists, Kenilworth Arts Festival and English Heritage made arrangements for plein air painting throughout September. I went on 5 occasions. It was a great chance to meet other Kenilworth Artists as well as visitors and staff.
My first painting was on quite a cold day and I was grateful for my flask of hot coffee. The grey flat sky tells the story. I choose this view on the terrace above the Elizabethan Garden because I liked the detail in the pergola and the draughting and perspective challenges it presented. Amazingly I'm not that familiar with the castle and so the first part of the day was spent looking around for the views I would paint. The castle stone changes colour regularly depending on the weather but the pinks and purples suit my palette. This was on an A3 scale and so the loose painting style let me cover a lot of paper quite quickly and I was very pleased to end the day with a finished painting. This for me is a real part of what plein air painting is and with watercolour there isn't really an excuse.Because of the weather and my location there were very few visitors around to talk to.
My second day was altogether more sunny. Again I chose a spot with interesting perspective challenges. The view from the Forekeep out over the Elizabethan Garden to the cottages on Castle Hill was a nice choice. I had a good place to site to the side of the path and there were plenty of visitors through. I love the children's politeness but nagging curiosity to see someone painting and the concern of parents some yards behind that their children were not being a nuisance. The sunshine did present the challenge in this painting of choosing the time to put the shadows in. It worked well in this instance. Almost at the end of the day the sun broke through and I love the line of shadow on the stone flags on the left and through the archway. I like the cool green on the mossy shadowy wall on the right too.
I was getting more confident now and so my next choice was the gateway near Leycester's Gatehouse and Edwardian Garden. I found a bit of lawn to sit on. By now the weather was so good I was having to move my chair to find shade. This was a joy listening to the guide doing his regular explanation of the significance of the gatehouse and a bit of history of the castle. In this case I chose an early morning reference with the gateway half in sunshine but most of the garden in shade. I was afraid of the complexity of putting shadow in at a later point in the day. I was starting to appreciate just how painting plein air makes you look harder at the scene. A reference photograph is always limited by the quality of the image and the quality of the photograph but there is no excuse for not examining some of the areas in more detail where its not clear what is going on.
A great example of this is this ink drawing I did of the keep from just outside the Edwardian Garden. I love the scale of it but just interpreting the ruin and making sense of it was fascinating. the huge lump of stone becomes much more interesting as you see where floors and staircases used to be.
For some reason this was school visit day and I was regularly surrounded by adorable children touching the paper to check that it was real. I love that, despite the paper on my lap and the pen in my hand, they still ask whether I have drawn it. They ask good questions and talk about their enjoyment of drawing and painting too. In fact many of the visitors, when prompted admit they still enjoy a little drawing and painting.
My final painting was a little different. I'd offered a painting to the Royal British Legion who were fundraising for a new bench near the war memorial. I'd really struggled for an idea that meant something to the cause but without being cliched, sentimental or twee. I had the idea of portraying the castle as if it had an installation like the iconic ceramic poppies at the Tower of London. I thought the Keep (although not one of the most recognisable buildings from this angle) would be the most suitable. I completed the castle part of a cold an blustery day and then did the poppies from reference photographs of the Tower of London display.
In amongst all of this was an amazing day organised by Warwickshire Open Studios. Well over 100 artists covered the lawns of Jephson Gardens on a Blazing hot day. There can't be an angle of the location that wasn't covered, artists were everywhere. The variety was incredible as the end of day exhibition showed - all media were represented and there were some amazing results. I decided to paint the Elephant Bench - I really liked the way the sun caught the bronze and cast deep shadows. I think I got caught between using the early morning light and adding the shadows because it looks more like a painting from reference photos than a true representation of the day itself. I loved the scale of the event and the chance to meet the other artists and see them at work. I'd definitely like to do it again.
Overall 2021 was a great year for finally getting to do some plein air painting. It's not so different from what I normally do but there are some distinct challenges and benefits of it. I'd be interested in views on whether you can 'tell' a plein air painting from a studio painted work and, if so, how?
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