Let’s Gooooo!
Find a good spot to set up, use sunscreen and bug spray. Do not wear perfume or bees will think you are a flower. Get in the shade as much as possible, but it also might not be possible. Take pictures of your chosen composition before you start and when it’s time to go. (It’s possible, but you probably won’t finish on location.)
I use cadmium red light first as a background wash/ canvas primer. Its warm, fiery color brings heat to the underpainting and warms everything up. (You are probably smarter than me and already did this at home 😉 Then I draw into the wet wash with a sharpened Blackwing pencil, making the rocks, mountains, etc. While that is drying a bit I put on my palette alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, burnt umber, burnt sienna, and white.
Alizarin crimson plus yellow ochre is the main pinky-yellowy color of the granite in the mountains. Adding white or burnt umber makes a lovely tint or shade. Burnt sienna plus white also mimics the hot reddish granite.
I paint dark to light (which is the opposite of watercolor btw) and focus on big shapes first, plus color. Big brushes, then smaller brushes. I like to use the RF oil sticks for my skies so I rub my chosen one all over the skyline.
Trees are a little harder because greens are harder to mix and get a natural color. Chromium oxide green is my new fave landscape color. I’ve been experimenting with it this summer.
Unique Challenges
One of the problems is slow drying times. This can mean you can accidentally mess up your painting either by overworking parts of it or transporting it. Other people can even mess it up! (I was once at a workshop where we put our finished paintings on the floor by a back wall out of the way to dry and that night people came into the studio with their children and their children stepped into my paintings and left footprints in them!!!!) The other problem is bugs. On a hot day bugs are looking for moisture and they think your shiny wet oil paint is it. They get trapped in the paint and you are constantly trying to get them off your work and keep them away. Do not wear perfume it only seems to draw them to you faster!
Positives
One of the positives is slow drying times. Yes, that’s a positive and a negative lol. When you are outside, in the heat water-based mediums dry before you can blink, but oil-based give you plenty of time to work, mix, and re-work. You can also finish a painting easier when you get home.
Honestly I love oil and water-based mediums, they both have their good and bad features. It just depends on how I’m feeling and what I want to do that day when I go out to paint as to what I choose to take.
Also, I have had very, very kind interactions with people passing by and I love to encourage others to paint outside! This has been an unexpected bonus for an introvert like me. But, as a teacher I want to pass things on!
After a couple of hours and maybe 2 canvases it’s time for a break. Out comes the tea and sandwiches. I love to just sit and be in this place. This is also a great time to step back and look at your painting. Try to see it with fresh eyes. Look at it from a problem solving, perspective and ask yourself what could make it better. Sometimes its as simple as adding a hint of a fun color for visual impact.
After tea, it’s now getting pretty hot outside. It’s time to finish up. I put the most details I can onto my paintings quickly, then pack them carefully in my vehicle. It will be days until they are even dry to the touch! This day is was 102 F so I didn’t get to finish. I will finish it at home.
My easel has slots and a way to hold 1 canvas securely for travel. I have also used canvas pins in the past and nestled pinned canvases in a cardboard box for travel. Now it’s time to head home- but dinner first!
The next day I painted while watching Svengoolie!
I can’t seem to get this dang painting to go right! (Which happens!)
Later I finished the painting up in my studio. Whew! This painting was not easy! That’s ok though. That helps me grow as an artist!
It’s going to cool off soon- get out and paint!
From a traveling studio on Kansas Street,
Jaime
Life on Kansas Street 