Plein Air Sketching in Water Color

"Ice House" Water Color Study 9" x 8"

  Plein Air painting out and about  on my own or  with my students has  always presented some interesting challenges. It is one of the most difficult class rooms to study in, mother nature, and takes years to master.  I prefer painting in water color with an occasional oil study here or there for a demo, but my poison of choice, en plein air, are water colors. Why ? Well its simple, one bag with my brushes, paints, water and  block of paper or a drawing book  and you're off ! I can set up anywhere, do a couple of quick studies and be on my way. It  fits easily in the back of my car  and water color  dries quickly so I can pack up in a pinch if the weather changes.

  Yet no matter what medium you chose nature always confronts us with a myriad of challenges  before we even  place brush to paper. She has changing weather patterns, shifting shadows, cold or the hot sun and of course our ever present friends, bugs !  Through all of this we are asked to hone in on powers of perception to create a composition from the landscape scene we have chosen, a view which may have taken us countless hours to find. I get tired just thinking about it and I know the drill all to well, perhaps it is easier to stay in the studio?  But, Nah that would not be any fun.

"Croft Farm Tree" Water Color Study of a Tree 9" x 6.5"

    So we venture forward with our hopes set high into the wild or maybe just  steps away to our own back yard. Inspiration for a subject can happen anywhere and one does not need to travel far to find it. The scenes I sketch plein air are not large but  practical in scale a few inches square to around 10 inches. I do not wish to overwhelm myself   with a format that is too large to complete in a short sitting. Once found, it  becomes the time I like to tell my students,  " To Focus", to block out all the elements around us and portray an image  in our minds of how we think our  subject needs to be transformed. We must consider our composition carefully while selecting the values that seem to fit the mood, either local or perceived with perhaps a smidgen  of both. With water color or  oils I begin to draw with an H pencil  to gain a generalized sense of my composition which usually consist of a few lines. Once satisfied with my drawing my interest shifts to the emotion  of the scene rather than capturing all the fine details . I am looking for the thing that made me take notice of the scene in the first place.  The light, a shadow of blue, that funky shape of a tree at the edge of a cliff, what is it that made me stop? What did I see and can I capture that image in my minds eye? The idea of plein air sketching for me aside from the vista is to gather information through these sketches that can be utilized later as a first impression of a location. They can be referred to again and again for future compositions or as part of another painting related to the same subject.

"Bay Head" Water Color Sketch  5.5 " x  9.5"

Ice house  above is a water color study from Croft Farm, a place I have been visiting for over 30 years. I have done numerous studies
of the building but the one above is the first I have really liked in all that time. The building itself is an octagon with this fantastic roof and wonderful copula. To really know an area you need to visit it over and over at different times, seasons and sometimes for years before it begins to speak to you.

   It's the same thing with " Croft Farm Tree" I have looked at this tree for many years in summer, winter, fading light and morning sun. From every conceivable angle I can think of  and I am just beginning to hear what it has to say. The sketch is not even that wonderful, it was one I did with my students this last summer, but it has its moments and it may very well grow up to be a painting someday.

   The last painting , " Bay Head", I love the beach in early morning and late evening with all the wonderful light bouncing off the ocean. I have a passion for surf fishing but if the fish are not biting I can always do a quick sketch while I wait. It is a simple composition of the early morning in Bay Head where my sister has a place, hence the name. This was before the storm a couple of summers ago and the beach sloped gently down to the water  where now there is a very steep drop at the end of the sand to the surf. It works well with all the complementary values of violet / blues and yellowish reflections from the rising sun.  Someone once said to me that great paintings have a light from within, I am not sure if this is a great painting but I am pretty sure it has a voice. This is an image that I am planning a larger oil for and am mapping out its size as I write . It is also one that will most certainly become a  how to dvd I am going to film this year for water color and  oils.

   In all plein air painting is as much about the adventure of finding something that you want to paint as it is  about creating the painting itself. It does not matter whether you produce a wonderful image it is about gathering vital information that can be used at a later date. My time spent in the field  hones basic skills of observation to better understand the way nature works while listening carefully to its voice to hopefully make us better painters.

    Philip Carroll is an artist, teacher and conducts classes in oils and water color through the Perkins Center for The Arts in Moorestown, NJ and his  workshops at various art centers.
 For more information about the artist or to inquire about having him conduct a workshop for your organization you can visit his web site at www.philipcarroll.com to see more of his works and new how to DVDs.