Home Forums Explore Media Oil Painting How long do you spend on studio work?

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #469448
    ldavid
    Default

        I had painted only studio work until last summer. Then, I was asked to teach a plein air workshop at our local art association I’m an art teacher and thought how hard can that be? So to prep, I went out and tried a few times- oh my! It was a game changer. I am now a convert and paint from life as often as possible. The problem I am having is now, my studio work seems like it takes forever. I am spending about 4-6 sessions (2 hours) on a studio piece about 16″ x 18″. I actually used to spend even longer. I know its hard to put a number on it, but anyone having this problem after working in plein air?

        #785925
        spero
        Default

            It just depends what effect your after, doesn’t it?

            Frederic Church made some great plein air sketches, but do they have the same effect as his studio work[/URL]?

            #785920
            Raffless
            Default

                It just depends what effect your after, doesn’t it?

                Frederic Church made some great [URL=http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2015/04/frederic-churchs-oil-sketches.html]plein air sketches[/URL], but do they have the same effect as his [URL=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/15.30.67/]studio work[/URL]?

                Yes

                #785908

                I’ve painted plein aire.

                It just seems…redundant.

                Forcing the waveform to collapse for two decades...
                http://www.syntheticskystudios.com
                Hilliard Gallery, Kansas City, "Small Works", December 2019

                #785924
                TomMather
                Default

                    I tend to paint quickly, whether inside or outdoors. Part of the reason for that is that I did a lot of plein air painting when I first started with oils. It’s hard to paint outdoors without working quickly because the light changes so quickly. In my case, that experience carried over to my studio work.

                    #785918
                    ntl
                    Default

                        I’m working on graphite/charcoal sketches for a painting. Worked on these same ones sometime ago, and expect to do a few more hours just on sketches, prior to oil sketches, prior to painting. So, I spend as much time as I need to.

                        I have a landscape I’m working on. I’ve spent over 30 hours on it so far, and have more to do.

                        I love doing plein air, but that’s out for now. I was still in “remedial” learning stages when I had to stop…

                        #785923
                        Ju-Ju-Beads
                        Default

                            I’m a very slow painter: sketch, paint, correct, paint more, correct again, rework something, paint more, correct….. For me it’s more about the actual painting than the finished product, although I do love finishing something I like! Time has little meaning when you’re having fun.

                            #785916
                            Michaelshane
                            Default

                                I start a painting and spend about 30 min on it then walk away.Come back to it later and spent 15 to 30 minutes on it and walk away.The time away from it varies.I do that until it’s done.Two or three days,sometimes a week.Some paintings I never finish.I look at them a lot though.

                                Someday everything is going to be different,when I paint my masterpiece.
                                Bob Dylan.

                                #785917
                                pleinair4me2
                                Default

                                    I had painted only studio work until last summer. Then, I was asked to teach a plein air workshop at our local art association I’m an art teacher and thought how hard can that be? So to prep, I went out and tried a few times- oh my! It was a game changer. I am now a convert and paint from life as often as possible. The problem I am having is now, my studio work seems like it takes forever. I am spending about 4-6 sessions (2 hours) on a studio piece about 16″ x 18″. I actually used to spend even longer. I know its hard to put a number on it, but anyone having this problem after working in plein air?

                                    Studio works take forever for me, too. Best to get outside where there’s no time to fiddle around or procrastinate.

                                    #785909
                                    WFMartin
                                    Default

                                        Except for a week or so when I first began painting, I have never painted en pleine’ aire’. The time or two when I WAS trying to do so, I found myself continually asking myself just why I felt the need to sit out in such an environment, when I had a camera at my disposal.

                                        Since then, I have done studio work exclusively.

                                        My usual format is 16″ x 20″, and for that I can easily invest anywhere from 30 to 80 hours of time in painting of it. I used to keep a “time sheet” on which I recorded my actual easel time, but once I used it to establish prices for my paintings, I discarded doing that.

                                        Studio work does require a bit of added knowledge, however. One must be aware of the typical camera aberrations that exist, and be willing to eliminate them as one is painting. Some shape distortions can be accommodated with Photoshop, but the greater share of color aberrations must usually be dealt with while painting. The color of cast shadows is a good example. Those aren’t indicated in a photo, merely because they are optical illusions, and don’t truly exist. Therefore. a photo won’t show them . However, to create a realistic painting, one must be prepared to realize that they would truly exist if that scene were real, and to paint them as such.

                                        wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"...
                                        https://williamfmartin.blogspot.com

                                        #785922
                                        Richard P
                                        Default

                                            Can you explain a bit more Bill about the colour of cast shadows point? I’d like to hear more.. :)

                                            #785921
                                            bhindi
                                            Default

                                                A couple old threads I have been reading with some comments by Mr. Martin on cast shadows that I found extremely useful:

                                                https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149847

                                                https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1350277

                                                #785913
                                                vhere
                                                Default

                                                    plein air enables you to see the colours and feel the atmosphere – it feeds your visual memory. Far from redundant! If you are satisfied with copying photos that’s ok but isn’t what I want in my work. They lack information, you haven’t experienced the place/thing in the same way. Artists I admire and who capture the essence of places are ones who have a foundation of working plein air and then in the studio.

                                                    #785911

                                                    Yes. I know exactly what you are talking about. But I don’t think it is a problem. The thing about plein air is that it makes you really efficient which is a good thing. And in general it will speed up your process… which I also think is a good thing. That means you can make more good paintings with the time you have left in this life.

                                                    The other good thing is that nothing in painting is all-or-nothing. You can and should just do all of it, whatever interests you. Every single thing you do feeds into everything else and you get better overall at everything. Problems you resolve in the studio carry over to plein air. Problems you resolve- and working efficiently- during plein air carry over into the studio. So does the visual memory of observation from life.

                                                    I paint plein air because I think it is literally the best thing in the whole entire world. :heart: I’m in love with it, completely smitten, for a million reasons.

                                                    I have been working plein air and on-location in my sketchbook (gouache) much more than studio work lately, and by lately I mean over the last several years. Right now I have reached a good plein air rhythm where a 6×8 takes me roughly between 2 – 2 1/2 hours. an 8×10 might be 3 1/2 hours. I can do a full double-page fairly complex sketchbook scene in gouache in just over an hour to an hour and a half. So I got into this “work-fast” kind of rhythm and I felt I needed some balance to that.

                                                    What I did was take a 4 week figure painting class at art students league, and I spent a total 16 class hours on a single 18×24. And I would have liked a couple more weeks on it. Making myself slow down and work larger was the main goal, and it was a mental balance thing more than anything else.

                                                    Keep doing what you love doing. If your mind is needing to find balance- do the opposite of what you have been doing a lot of. But getting more fluent and efficient… congrats, you have become a better artist. :D

                                                    Lady Mars Orange Marmalade Stapleford
                                                    Moderator: OIls, Pastels, Plein Air

                                                    Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. -Oscar Wilde

                                                    #785919
                                                    Reed Jones
                                                    Default

                                                        I think working en plein air is ideal for capturing light effects, but I just can’t get jazzed about the smallish canvas sizes you have to employ when you go that route. I wish I was like Monet and could haul the same 30″ x 40″ canvases out day after day, but reality keeps me in the studio if I want to work at those sizes, which is pretty much all the time.

                                                        Every painting practice develops from your own reality; your likes, dislikes, limitations, budget, you name it. I think all artists should just do their thing and pursue it with as much vigor as possible. Producing a compelling painting (regardless of source) is a major accomplishment, and should be celebrated as such. Factions in art are no more desirable than factions in anything else. We should all just judge each piece on its merits and care a bit less about process.

                                                        www.reedmichaeljones.com

                                                        Critiques and feedback are welcomed!

                                                      Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
                                                      • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.