Denver Plein Air Arts Fest

I've been painting in the 2012 Denver Plein Air Arts Fest over the past couple of weeks.  This is my first year and it has been pretty fun.  Artists are allowed to paint at select locations between August 10th and September 16th.   Works that are juried in to the show in November will be eligible for awards and will hang in the Vida Ellison Gallery at the Denver Central Library.  Here are a few pics from the various sites.

One paint-out was held at the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison Colorado.  I've been there at night for concerts but watching the sunrise over Denver is a spiritual experience.

Red Rocks Amphitheater at dawn

Ready to paint the sunrise at Red Rocks

One of my paintings of Red Rocks

I also decided to paint the State Capitol.  It wasn't my first choice since it is an obvious choice but I found a unique vantage point and captured the sunset glistening off the gold-covered dome.  I ended up painting by the lights from the Voorhies Memorial for an hour + after the sun set.  As it got dark, more and more homeless people started showing up.   One of them, named Bryon, said he loved my painting and though it looked photo-realistic.  Later, when discussing something else, he told me he had vision problems and could only see fuzzy shapes ;-)  That was a let down.  When I asked him if I should be worried about some of the troublesome looking folks starting to congregate he said not to worry as long as he was around he would protect me.  It was a nice gesture but he clearly didn't take into account I was armed with multiple paint brushes and cadmium pigments.

Painting the Denver State Capitol

Bryon - a friendly homeless guy who I chatted
with as I painted past dark. 

On another day we painted at the Grant-Humphreys mansion.  It's a beautiful old home and we had free reign of the grounds.  

I used the sight-size method for my drawing of the planter below.  The afternoon sun made the railings and planter glow against the dark foliage in the background.

Sight-sizing initial drawing / values
Grant-Humphreys Mansion

Planter at Grant-Humphreys Mansion

Painting at Grant-Humphreys Mansion in Denver

The mansion also has wonderful architectural details which I decided to paint a few days later.  The piece I'm working on below required some detailed drawing.  I need to go down one more time to finish the painting.  So far it looks good; I'll post pics of it later.

Drawing architectural details at Grant-Humphreys Mansion in Denver

Mini Backpacking Pochade Kit

Well summer is in full swing and it is beautiful hiking weather in Colorado.  My two sons and I have been on several hiking and backpacking trips into Rocky Mountain National Park this year already.  We combine our love of fly fishing, camping and of course painting!

Last weekend we hiked in 7 miles to camp at Thunder Lake.  This area of RMNP is very picturesque and our hike took us from dense forest to windswept tundra with rivers, streams, and lakes along the way.

With packs already full of gear, food and water, I had to scale down my painting kit.  So, I left my tripod, pochade box and panel support behind and assembled this mini kit from stuff I had laying around.

For the box, I used an inexpensive plastic bin with clasp locks for the lid.  It is just large enough to fit the four 37ml tubes of paint, a small cup for OMS, a pair of gloves, two small spring clips, plastic bag for hauling out trash, a couple of 5"x7" panels, a pencil, and small Moleskine pad for sketching.  I packed my brushes and paper towels separately.

As for paints, I limited my palette to Quick Dry White, Cad Red Light, Ultramarine Blue, Hansa Yellow Medium...all from Gamblin.  I also incorporated Gamblin's Galkyd medium to speed drying.

Once I found a spot to paint I simply removed the contents from the box, secured the panel to the box with the spring clips and squirted out some paint.  The clips worked surprisingly well to hold the panel and mixing the paint in the bottom of the box kept everything tidy.  When I was done, I simply wiped box clean with paper towels and put all the supplies back in.

As a side note, I sprung for the "Mighty Mite Jr. Brush Washer" small turps jar made by Guerrilla Painter.  It's a 1.25" high, plastic wide mouth jar with a welded metal insert for brush cleaning.  It doesn't look like much for 15 bucks but it was exactly what I needed for my mini kit and it worked great with no leaks...even at 11,000 feet above sea level.

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Here's the link to the video showing my original Pochade box: http://scottruthven.blogspot.com/2011/11/painting-en-plein-air-forces-quick.html

Here's the link to another post on building your own Pochade box: http://scottruthven.blogspot.com/2011/11/pochade-box-envy.html

Hope you are having a great summer!