"Great plein air paintings may include sunlight...

...but are made in the shade," says Robert Genn in his newsletter this morning.   These are my sentiments exactly!  When I am  painting outdoors, I always seek shade.

Jan Blencowe, painting on location in Maine.

However, making paintings in the shade is  not always possible, so some of us use umbrellas of one type or another to shade our palettes and canvases.  

Claudia Post has a bird's eye view!

Or we find creative ways to stay out of the sun. 

At the same location, here's Claudia, painting comfortably in her slippers in the shade.  Did you notice the ice pack wrapped around her left ankle?  At the beginning of our Maine painting expedition, she thought she'd sprained both her ankles when she fell from a ledge.  She hadn't; she'd only sprained one.  The left one she broke! This she learned after returning home.  Her ankle's been in a cast ever since!

Broken bones don't stop this determined lady!

Whatever works is good! It's getting the job done that makes an artist happy.  

I'm so excited about the art exhibition the three of us are planning with photographer Lou Zucchi.  I invite you to mark your calendar now for October 17-21 when The Maine Attraction will be showing at the Essex Art Association. 

Silly and the Seal

Silly makes a friend.

These are two photos taken by Marina Lamb of Biddeford, Maine.  She sent them to show me what Roger and I had missed the afternoon and evening I had painted at the town boat ramp.  Apparently, on subsequent days, this furry visitor from the sea popped up.  How Roge and I wish the seal had been there the day we were.  I would have put both Silly and the seal in my painting!

Want to be my friend?

Painting in Biddeford, Maine, on the Saco River

My Sweetie

Roger enjoys visiting with folks who stop by to watch me paint.

The photographs in this post are courtesy of Marina Lamb of Biddeford, Maine.  She and her husband Greg visited with Roger and me when I was painting at the boat ramp on the Saco River in Biddeford recently. 

Joan (with the block-in of my painting begun) and Roger, chief supervisor.

I dedicate this blog post to Nikki Jacquin of Regina, Saskatchewan, because she has asked me what I pack for plein air painting.  Marina's series of photos gives a good idea of some essentials.  My Gloucester easel is amazingly stable in windy weather. Because each of its three legs is separately adjustable, I am able to paint on uneven ground, even among rocks and boulders. 

You can catch a glimpse of a spray bottle in the bottom left corner of this picture.  I use it to spray a fine mist of water over my acrylic paints to keep them "open."

When I am painting in my studio or traveling by car, I carry my paints in that aluminum "suitcase" that you see on the rock.  When I need to pare down my "stuff," I take only some of my paints with me in my backpack (which I will already have lightened to make room for the paints).

This gives you a good idea of my setup.  In a resealable Masterson
box, I work on a paper palette which has a damp sponge pad beneath it to help keep the acrylics workable.  I store my brushes in a canvas holder which I can roll up and carry in my backpack.

This is one of the nicest pictures of  me painting that I have.  My photographer friend Lou Zucchi will tell you that I am not good at smiling for a camera, and he's right.  He'll verify that this is a "genuine" Joan smile.    Kudos to you, Marina!   Thank you again for your kindness in taking these photos and for your willingness to let me share them with my readers.

This Post is for Nikki Jacquin in Saskatchewan!

Nikki (Twitter.com/#nikkisportraits) asked me recently for a list of things I take with me when I go plein air painting.  I chuckled to myself and explained that it would take more than 140 characters to tell her.  Actually, it wouldn't have.  I take everything but the kitchen sink!  (That's only 39 characters!)


The truth is I always WANT to take everything but the kitchen sink, but I know I can't.  The essentials are as follows:


pigments (pastels, oils, and acrylics are heavy; watercolors aren't bad, but they aren't my preferred pigment)
brushes (I once forgot them & had to paint with twigs, plastic "silverware," and the stub of a rope I found)
palette
palette knife
water/medium/or turp
something to clean brushes in (the plastic container I use to dip my acrylic brushes in--or a portable metal brush washer when I paint in oils)
*Easel (unless you are going to paint in a notebook or on your lap)
Paper towels or rags
Gloves (disposable)
Hat
Drinking water

Also important to take:


Sunscreen
Bug spray
Something to eat easily (A peanut butter & jelly sandwich doesn't need refrigeration.)
**Umbrella  


*My first plein air easel was a Julian French easel that my husband bought me on a trip to New York City over thirty years ago.  He chivalrously trudged all over the city, carrying it for me while we took in the sights and toured the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I used it for many years; however, a Julian is heavy when it is filled with paints, etc. (To reduce the weight, some artists remove the metal drawer liner, but I never did.)  I still have that easel and use it mostly to paint in the yard.  


My second plein air easel we bought at Dick Blick's on sale in Las Vegas where we were visiting our daughter.  It is a very light, simple black metal easel.  I used it when I painted in the Valley of Fire and in Red Rock Park.  It is fine if wind is not a factor.

I later bought a Easy-L pochade box and tripod, which I have used when I paint locally.  It is compact, easy to set up, and fairly stable in moderate wind--as long as you attach the sling to hold a rock or two.  When rocks aren't available, I use my backpack as a weight; it works just fine.


My favorite plein air easel is a Gloucester easel.  It is a wood tripod that sets up and takes down fairly quickly once you get the hang of it.  It has the most stability of any outdoor easel.  Each leg of the tripod can be adjusted to whatever length is needed.  On Schoodic Peninsula in Maine last week, I often had each of the legs set at three different lengths to accommodate for the rocky terrain.

Joan Cole painting the Saco River in Biddeford, Maine  Photo by Marina Lamb

Here's a photo of me at my Gloucester easel over a week ago.  It was taken by a lovely lady named Marina Lamb who was walking her dogs with her husband at the public boat ramp in Biddeford.  She took many photos of me during the time we all visited and has sent them to me.  Thank you so much, Marina.

**Umbrellas are helpful, if you aren't painting in a lot of wind.  My preference when at all possible is to find a spot that is naturally shaded.  I don't mind painting in the woods, if I can be out of the direct sun and have a great view to paint.

Teaching an old dog new tricks

I was wearing miniskirts and hippie beads when I took my first oil painting class one night a week at Trade School in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Since then, oils had been my favorite medium--until last summer.


However, last spring I took two weekend workshops in acrylics with artist, lecturer, and teacher Jan Blencowe of Clinton, Connecticut.  Acrylics became a whole new medium for me, although I'd been skeptical about whether it would be one I'd enjoy.  As I began experimenting with them, I was pleased with their similarity to oils.  For the most part, they mix the same way oils do, but dry much faster.  Not only that, but the process of painting is faster, and the cleanup is as well.   

I had not used acrylics for plein air painting until last summer when I made up my mind to give them a real trial.  On my painting trip to Monhegan Island, Maine in August, I left my oils home and took only acrylics.  The weather was good to me; the rain, mist, and fog were balanced by sunshine, warm days, and blue skies.  That's how I discovered that it's easier to paint on the "soft" days than on those when I painted in full sun.    I didn't have to keep misting my palette;  Mother Nature took care of that.  When the weather got too wet to continue painting outdoors, I'd just flip my old collapsible metal wet paint carrier upside down for the walk home.  This kept the canvas from being rained on and prevented the painting from being washed away. 

"Rainy Sunrise," 12 x 16" original acrylic on Irish linen, copyright Joan Cole

That technique didn't work quite as well the morning I painted "Rainy Sunrise,"  which was recently accepted into the 111th annual juried exhibition of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club.  After I had trekked back to the cottage from my perch overlooking the cliffs of Whitehead and turned the carrier right side up, I couldn't believe my eyes!  Mother Nature had played a trick on me on the walk home:  apparently my canvas had become so wet by the time I finally stopped painting in the heavy mist that the accumulated moisture had slid in rivulets down the canvas.  Not only that!  The underbrush I had hiked through had added some brushwork of its own.  I had to laugh.  Murphy's Law once again!  


Despite these surprises, I was able to rescue "Rainy Sunrise" from disaster by reworking some of the places that had been scratched and blurred.  It is what it is:   my creation enhanced by the elements on a magical Monhegan morning!  Another of God's many blessings.

If you'd like to see this masterpiece that Mother Nature and I created, please stop by Maple and Main Gallery at 1 Maple Street in Chester, CT 06412.  I  was so pleased at last night's opening of the new spring show when several visitors commented favorably on this particular painting.  

If you missed the opening, come join in the May Daze revels in Chester on Friday, May 4th from 5 to 8.   If you do, please say "Hello" to me, enjoy a glass of wine, hors d'oeuvres, good company, and over 200 other pieces of original art.   If you miss the May Daze extravaganza, the exhibition will run until June 10th.