First Plein Aires

**sundiver** · #1 06-25-2003, 10:54 PM

in 30 years!
The first three are oil pastel and took an hour each. The fourth is soft pastel and took 20 minutes.
They are not very good. It's difficult to get sunny highlights over darks in o.p. unless you leave it overnight to harden a bit, and the soft pastel is pretty wild, but......I think I'm hooked!

I've been lurking in here for a while, admiring all your great stuff. Now that the weather is better and I have a bit of time I want to do as much plein aire as I can.

andyvry · #2 06-26-2003, 02:29 AM

In my humble opinion, for what it's worth, your oil pastels display a good understanding of the medium. One of them is exceptionally good.........

And, as these are your first plein airs, look at it this way :

The only way is up. [i.e.] You can only get better.....

Thanks for sharing them.

andy.

meowmeow · #3 06-26-2003, 07:27 AM

I think for first plein airs they are super! In fact for any plein air paintings they are not bad at all. I like the soft pastel one a lot!
Keep going out...it really does get better!

Sandy

**Lorijo** · #4 06-26-2003, 08:57 AM

I agree with Sandy and Andy, they are very well done! Stop cutting your work down, you wouldn't say that to somebody else's stuff would you? Be nice to you! Have fun! Lorijo

blondheim12 · #5 06-26-2003, 11:22 AM

Bravo!!!!!

Love,
Linda

Patrick1 · #6 06-26-2003, 11:40 AM

These are all good. But my favorite is the second; I love the earthy colour of the path and how it plays against the greens.

Kittengale · #7 06-26-2003, 12:47 PM

Wow! Great, energetic Plein Airs. I was excited to see the soft pastel one, as I am hoping to give this medium a try outdoors, too. Does the pastel dust just get carried away by the wind?

JamieWG · #8 06-26-2003, 05:20 PM

No!!!! Wendy, OMG, with all your landscape painting and having that ideal setting to work from outdoors.....I am astonished that these are your first plein airs! Congratulations! I especially like the path with the flowers and trees alongside it.

Isn't it an amazing adventure to work outside from life?

Jamie

Phyllis Rennie · #9 06-26-2003, 06:46 PM

Very nice! Welcome to the "hook"!

**sundiver** · #10 06-26-2003, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kittengale
Wow! Great, energetic Plein Airs. I was excited to see the soft pastel one, as I am hoping to give this medium a try outdoors, too. Does the pastel dust just get carried away by the wind?

I spent only 20 minutes on it and was sitting half in the van so can't really say. I certainly plan to do more in soft pastel, although I'm allergic to dust and should wear a dust mask. That's one reason I've been exploring oil pastels, and although they have some limitations, I've been fairly pleased with them.

Thank you all for your encouraging comments! I'm going to be pestering you from now on with questions, and probably a whining session or two!

angecald · #11 06-26-2003, 10:20 PM

Wendy, these are fabulous! I especially love the red path through the trees. Yes, it is astonishing that these are your first recent plein-air works; I wouldn't have thought you could do such good landscapes from photos without a lot of plein-air experience.

As you know from the sketches thread in the pastels forum, I've embarked on plein-air work myself during the last month or two, and I've been loving it but also struggling with it. Maybe, since you've been brave enough to post here, I'll put mine up too and get some feedback from the experts.

To Kittengale - I work outdoors with chalk pastels and the dust doesn't exactly drift away on the wind. You have to blow on it (no-no-no-no-no!

or give your board a good tap. It does then disappear nicely into the weeds. Easier than at home, where it's only going to go somewhere you'll have to dust later. Make sure you bring moist towelletes to clean your hands and don't forget your face - like I did, walking back through town looking like a coal miner. (You may not have that problem, but I'm the world's messiest painter.)

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