Saturday, September 29, 2007

Plein Air Season

The long awaited nice temperatures for Phoenix have finally arrived. I have wanted to get out and paint at least one study a day since attending Christensen's workshop in June. Too blasted hot. Well it is finally possible. Here are a weeks efforts.

This was a favorite little fishing hole here in the urban lakes. I did a littl multitasking and fished whild I painted. I caught 4 catfish, 2 bluegill and a white amur. They put copper oxide in the water to control the growth of algae, so the water is actually this goofy color.
This a little spot about a block away from the house. A mother and her daughter were quite entertained by my painting effort and she asked if she could photgraph the progress. I felt a bit like a performance artist.
After getting the kids off to school, I grabbed my kit and headed down to Saratoga lake to watch the morning light wake up on a pontoon. I was pleased with the water on this one.

This one I wanted to try a real high key painting. I have been looking at Bato's artwork and have been fascinated and blown away with how he handles the suttle transitions.


Not real happy with this one. It got later into the afternoon and it was pretty warm out. I think the temp blew my mood.

I went to the park up at Scottsdale and couldn't resist this tribute to Robert Indiana. A lot of lookers and interest in what I was doing.

8 comments:

Jennifer McChristian said...

Looks like you had a productive and creative week.
These studies are terrific! I noticed you are using more subtleties in your values and palette.

Jean Levert Hood said...

Hey Les! Well, when you got started, you really got going!! Great pieces. I like the way your strokes are changing, lots of bold strokes.
Jean

www.JeanLevertHood.com

Ron Guthrie said...

Hi Les, nice work on these pieces. I really like that first one and the bridge...very good work there. Winter in the desert soon...get to painting! hahahaha.

Stefan Nuetzel said...

Great pieces, Les! Jennifer had got the point and the colorful greys are super. There is also a good spacial feeling in them. I think you are having more than a good week.

les lull said...

Thanks Jennifer. I did get busy. I have a goal of getting it figured out what I want to gather in the way of info when I get out. Appreciate the comments about the subtleties. I have a bad habit of gettint too punchy in my plein air pieces. Less values and better transitions.

les lull said...

Thanks Jean. I lost a little momentum this last week. I have some time to make up. I learn alot more when I keep a good pace.

les lull said...

Hey Ron, thanks for stopping by. This is my favorite time of year. I want to spend more time studying Bato. It amazed me in that bridge piece how much a painter can say with few values. Hm........

les lull said...

Thanks Stefan. I have been focusing on telling a better story in the midtones. The workshop that I took with Christensen really helped with the spacial quality. Another year of this and who knows where the work will be.