White Rabbits and Plein Air

Today, finally, the waters receded upon the earth, and I was able to get out to the park where I'm leading the plein air sessions for our artists' collective.  Small group today, largely because people were not sure if the floods really had gone, and there are still major detours because of serious flooded underpasses, downed trees and so on.

The only difference was that the little road which runs past the park was mobbed, probably because of detours, but it was cool and cloudy, pleasant and amazingly free of biting bugs, a huge bonus.

So I met a new friend in art, and I made a few small pen drawings om mulberry paper.  Gave my new friend a couple of pages of mulberry to try out, too.

I started with a little drawing of tree roots, which started to look amazingly like an old hand, mine, to be exact.

And there were mallows, pink and in full bloom, near the dock on the canal.

The bridge, with traffic edited out

A volunteer springing from the root of an old tree

And the house across the canal, seen from the dock next to the mallows.

These drawings are done with a fine point Pilot pen, on mulberry paper, smooth side up, and are about five inches square.  I don't usually like to work in a square, unyielding shape, but it's what I had to hand.

It's so good to have revived our plein air meetings.  Such pleasure in working out of doors, and in making new friends at the same time.

 

Plein Air has started up again.

This morning, I initiated the first meeting of our plein air group for this year.  It's a Creative Collective adventure, but anyone may come join us to make art out of doors, if you're local.  Email me at my personal yahoo address for location information.  There's shade, and a covered pavilion, and views of trees, grass, parkland, canal water, houses, plenty of interest.  And runners and canoeists if action drawing and painting is your joy, too.

Anyway, I got it underway with a solo performance -- it takes a couple of weeks before people start to schedule it and fit it in and come, so it's good to launch it anyway.

Very hot today, so an hour and a half was about it for this heat avoiding artist, but it was productive and one of the great pleasures of life, as plein air drawing always is.  I brought painting gear too, but ended up just getting my hand and eye back in with a couple of drawings, and pix for future study for design purposes. 

Model maple leaf sitting on the drawing book

My interpretation seen without the model

 

The view, and, below,  how the eye edits as you draw

How I saw that view

 

 

 

Picnic table, and below, the abstraction it suggested

When you slow down and just let yourself look and breathe, you see all kinds of interesting phenomena.  Many dragonflies out this morning, three different species, some small butterflies, late dandelions, one of which I sampled, not bad, banks of wildflowers, interesting lichen designs on trees, no end of nature to see and experience. 

 If you can join us or some other group to make art out of doors in the summer, or if you have no group, do it anyway.  You'll be part of a long history of artists making the outdoors in their studio, in a conversation with nature.