Trying to Paint Plein Aire

Carrie, Shawna & Gypsy

My daughter Carrie and I went plain aire painting today. Now that the the fall colors are starting to show, it is a great time to find exciting landscapes. I am such a novice at this and thought an overcast day would be easier than trying to chase the light and shadow on a sunny day. Well my painting turned to mud but my daughter came away

with a beautiful painting! She is such a natural at this!

The day wasn't a complete waste for me, I found a great place to go mushrooming next fall and my spouse filled his trailer full of oak logs for burning this winter. So today was a great day!

My Mud Painting

I am surprised the colors look so drab now that I'm back in my studio. My main focus was to try and match the colors. I have much to learn about plein aire painting! Be sure to check Carrie's painting on her blog, her colors are awesome!

Wait, Hold the Sprinkles!

"Wait, Hold the Sprinkles!" 
5.5x10 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa
NFS

I hate sprinkles! I can't think of anything worse than biting into a soft, delicious cupcake piled with sweet fluffy frosting and then biting into hard crunchy sprinkles to spoil the whole experience.

In Karin Jurick's DSFDF challenge she included a video of Wayne Thiebaud. I was fortunate enough to see a Thiebaud exhibit years ago and fell in love with his paintings of common foods and cityscapes. What an amazing artist, he is 87 years old and still paints every day!

In this challenge I used Classic Artist Oils that has linseed oil mixed in with thickeners which has the consistency of butter. I've only used these paints once before years ago and thought it would be perfect for this challenge especially the frosting. I ended up using my palette knife and applying the paint like I would as if frosting a cupcake along with some brushwork. I was almost tempted to lick my fingers.