Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Landscape Frame




I don't usually do "plein air" art, which I suppose makes me less of a "true" artist in the 19th and 20th century academic style. "Plein air" or outdoor art on site is a lot more difficult logistically than you might think. The artists who swear by it don't mention bugs which gather around your wet paint, or get in your face. They don't mention that there is usually no safe place to set up your portable art studio even in a rural area. And they seem to be able to endure blazing sun and heat, or chilly rain and cold.

I am a wimpy artist and will not go outside unless the weather is ideal. But the weather is always ideal in my memory and I can generate scenes from memory (or even more deceptively, from photographs) which have the appearance of being drawn or painted from on-site observation. This "frame" is a tiny ink drawing (about 4 1/2" x 2") I did in a sketchbook, completely from memory. I then colored it with Photoshop, colors retrieved from my Photoshop color sample files. So there you have it: not done on site, not colored on site, and it's just like what I saw in my idyllic travels through the Appalachians.

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