Small Works at the Workhouse ~ Potomac Artworks

12.14.2009

Small Works at the Workhouse

Check out the Small Works Exhibit until December 24. Artists were offered the opportunity to submit five pieces each for the show, each smaller than 8x10 and available for $200 or less.

Talk about cute! They look great hanging on the walls of the gallery, just as they would on your own walls.

Poppies in the Rough

Soft pastel on prepared surface

4x6

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.

Pages

12.14.2009