Back to oil after 8 years

I got my pochade box last week. It's kind of wobbly on my cheap tripod, I need to stabilize it with the other hand if it gets too bad.

I did a couple paintings from my living room windows as try-outs, to test out the pochade box and get familiar with where things are. So the 2 paintings were horrible, and I scratched them. I remember I used to keep paintings that didn't work, but now I would much rather reuse the panel. I use a palette knife to scratch off all the paint, mix it up as a grey on my palette, wipe the panel down with turpentine, and it is ready to be used the next day.

For the first plein air painting with the Guerrilla pochade box, I picked a place near home, because I was feeling insecure and did not want to venture far. My illness now prevents me from standing for long so I found a park bench to sit on.

Carleton Ave. at Broadview Park - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

I used sight-sizing which Marc Dalessio explained here: Link
Sight-sizing worked really great for me, it cuts down the time that I need to get a perfect drawing done on the canvas before painting, it also makes it easier to compare values and colours as the painting and the view are side by side.

I tried to use very thin painting there, and with a dry brush other than for the sky and the road. It leaves some nice textures here and there. I thought about add some dramatics clouds in the sky. I don't want to change a plein air painting too much, so if I end up doing a studio piece with it I can do that!

A couple colour studies

I did a couple quick sketches from my home as the sun was setting. In the golden hours, light and colours change by the seconds. Unless you are prepared, you really won't have any time to capture the moment. In this case, I just wanted to jot down the colours that I saw, but even then, the view is very different when I started and when I finished each sketch.
I started the 2nd painting right after I finished the first one and you can see how much had changed. Sometimes you will be "chasing effects", meaning you see something you like and you try to capture it, but as time goes by what attracts you changes and you continue to try to capture in different places.
Many times what you end up with is a "composite" of the fleeting moments.

2014 01 22 b - 6.5" x 8.5"

2014 01 22 a - 6.5" x 8.5"

added links to 3 plein air painters whose work I admire

I really enjoy looking at their work and am very inspired by them.

I like paintings that are genuine and without forced romance.  Their paintings transform what's in front their eyes into pure poetry..

Joe Paquet

Skip Whitcomb

Marc Dalessio

3 Alexander St.

It was pretty difficult to create the small details on such a small piece of paper with blunt pastel sticks. The trick was to suggest the details and spend more time observing. Light moved fast, by the end of this painting, the whole side of the building was in shadow.

"3 Alexander St." -- 2013 05 08 -- 6.5" x 8.5"

So I am finally going back to oil painting. After years of "I wish... If only...", I just ordered a pochade box online and went to Opus today to get the rest of the oil painting supplies. This time I am more selected with the number of colours I will use. I picked up French ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, yellow ochre, titanium white, cadmium red and cadmium yellow. I used to carry more colours such as raw and burnt umber, lemon yellow and alizarin crimson, but after seeing how Marc Dalessio uses such a limited palette, I want to try as well. It will give me fewer decisions to make as well as a lighter backpack to carry, which are all very important for plein air painting.

Gloomy Monday

Let's start the new year with a typical Vancouver winter/early spring view looking north.
It's good to use contrast to suggest the scale of things. Contrast doesn't have to be in grey scale, it can be contrast in colours or in this case, contrast in details, or stroke size.
In this painting, if I had taken a picture of the painting in progress before the last layers of details were put in, you would see just broad washes of greys in the sky and water and deep blues in the mountains. As soon as small strokes were added to suggest houses on the hill, boats, and snow patches, the painting came to life and 'context' was created.

Small scale plein air paintings can look less grand in scale compared to a large scale studio painting, because with the larger scale you can put in even finer details to contrast.

2013 03 05 - 6.5" x 8.5"

the view

My setup

My set up is super basic. I just layout all my supplies on the tables and chairs. I also carry a damp rag to wipe my hands so colours don't transfer. I also use paper towels to dry my hands to they don't smear colours. Also I have my home made view finders, it's really helpful to close in on a composition. Lastly, I have a grey card punched with a hole, it's my colour picker. Maybe I will talk about these tools in the future.

Merry Christmas

This one is from 2005, painted en plein air in oil in Toronto. Vancouver snowed a few days before, but it melted before Christmas. I don't think Christmas needs to be white, but we did go up to the mountain to play in the snow.
It's been 8 years since this was painted and I find myself still drawn to the same subject, and same excitement for subtlety in colours. If this was taken with a camera, I think it will be awfully boring, with dirty grey snow and unappealing single tone sky. Yet in painting, the snow are greys in shades of green, purple, blue, brown, and the same colours are echoed everywhere to form a harmonized painting. To me, painting is magical in the sense that it has the power to transform a view into a poetic interpretation.

"The green lane" 9.5" x 12.5" - 2005

(Update) Wait, I actually found a photo of the similar lighting condition, not sure if it's taken on the same day.

This is the same view, but different day.

I was so drawn to the back allies in Toronto. They were so full of character, and I like how they are so organic, almost blending into the nature, creating so much energy in light and shadow, either hard or soft.
Some other views that are still so inspiring to me, and remind me of my painting crazed university life. I used to carry my french easel to school almost everyday, and walked around the neighborhood near the school to find my next subject in -10C weather. When I finished school, I think I had visited all the areas that were walkable and painting-friendly.

Cory painting

Cory - 8.5" x 6.5" - 2013 08 16

Cory joined our painting group at lunch. He is painting on his iPad using a stylus.
I ran out of time to do the hands. I like to paint hands because they are very expressive and full of character.