Wolf Trap's International Children's Festival ~ Potomac Artworks

9.17.2009

Wolf Trap's International Children's Festival

Last year, NOVAL participated as the sole prototype for exciting things to come. This year, the International Children's Festival will feature a beefed up visual arts section. Individuals and groups will have art available for sale; they will also be painting and doing demos in the meadow next to the main amphitheater.

I will be there and painting Sunday morning to early afternoon. Please look for NOVAL and SAG if you come out to this cherished annual event sponsored by the Arts Council of Fairfax. Also, look for the superbly cut concrete backing pieces for the mosaic mirrors, children's hands on art opportunities. They were created with love.

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The Charm of en Plein Air

Much of my work is done en plein air, French for "in the open air." People often associate it with the Impressionists, but the move to paint outside preceded them by a number of decades. The trend to appreciate landscapes as a genre at all was new for the time.

Several characteristics contribute to the distinctive beauty of en plein air painting. They are generally smaller in size in order to be able to capture a scene in a single sitting. Because of the time limit and environmental factors such as the sun and shadows moving, they often lack extensive details and might appear slightly fuzzy or unfinished. Lastly, they tend to have a freshness and spontaneity which makes them impossible to compare to traditional and methodological studio work. That said, my own studio work tends toward the same feel as en plein air, which then identifies my overall style: softness with an edge.

My aim when painting en plein air is for alla prima paintings, which roughly translates for me as "what happens outside, stays outside." It adds another level of difficulty to the work.

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9.17.2009