An Update From Plein Air Rockies 2013

I'm very fortunate to be one of the 34 artists from the USA and Russia competing in this year's "Plein Air Rockies" event in Estes Park, Colorado.  We paint from August 10th through the 22nd and all our paintings go on display and for sale on August 25th.

I've been painting in Rocky Mountain National Park and in the town of Estes Park and have thoroughly enjoyed it!

Here's I'm just setting up to paint a boat scene.  I had to really focus to complete this big painting before the afternoon storms rolled in so no in-progress shots.  

 This is my finished painting at Milner's pass...10,000'+ elevation in Rocky Mountain National Park.

In progress shot of the Estes Park Aerial Tramway:

An Estes Park native!

I'll post more as the event wraps up.  Wish me luck on the competition and sale!

Juried Shows and Positive Affirmations

It's a busy time of year and I'm so blessed with the opportunities that have come my way in the past year.  I dropped off three paintings for the PAAC show opening in Denver this coming Friday night.  As I looked at the other art being dropped off I realized how incredible it was and just how lucky I am to have three paintings juried into this peer group.

In addition, I've been accepted to paint in the Plein Air Rockies 2013 in Estes Park Colorado.  This event starts next week but participating artists were allowed two paintings to display / sell in a "Prelude show".  This gives patrons an opportunity to see some of our finished work while we are out painting for the plein air show.  I took two additional paintings with me on the day of the drop off and mentioned to the show chair I had extra paintings if they needed to fill more wall space, to which she replied "well, bring them in with the others and we'll take a look".  After having unwrapped only two of the four she said "oh ya, we'll take all four!"  This kind of positive affirmation about my work feels so wonderful.  Let's face it, our family and friends will always offer kind words of encouragement but acceptance into juried shows, positive comments from strangers and of course, sales really provide me the unbiased feedback that says I must be doing something right.

I'll post more on these events as they come and go.

Thanks for visiting!

Three Tips For Painting Better Nocturnes

As I paint more nocturnes I'm learning more about what works.  Here are some key learnings I want to share with you.

1. Have a good light - I use a book light with two LED's and two stages of brightness.  The clip end houses the 2 AAA batteries.  Get a light with a balanced light color...not too blue or yellow.  New, high output bulbs produce a nice white light. 

2. Pre-tone your canvas a dark color.  I'm still experimenting with this but find that if I tone my canvas black or some dark mix of an earth tone and ultramarine blue and let that dry it is much easier to start the painting.  If you start with a white surface you have to lay down a lot of darks...which will muddy up your lights when you go to put them in.  Much of this struggle is eliminated if you begin with a dark, dry surface.

3. Slow down and enjoy the painting.  Take time to let your eyes acclimate to the darkness.  There is so much subtle variation and there is no hurry since the light sources are fixed (signs, street lights) and you don't have any moving shadows.  Basically, depending on the scene, you might have all night so take your time to really see the color and value relationships and work to get those right on your canvas the first time.  Having said this, I have been happily painting a scene when all of a sudden the main lit sign in my painting shut off for the night.  Oh well, that happens....just pack it up and try again another night.

I painted this scene of a railroad crossing out in the country.  It took me about 3 hours and I wrapped it up at about 1:30AM.  I parked off the side of the dirt road and painted from inside of the bed of my pickup.  One car passed me in three hours...otherwise there was no other light source and no people anywhere around.  It was so peaceful and relaxed.  I learned a lot by taking my time on this one.

"1AM at the Crossing" © Scott Ruthven

8"x10" |  Oil on linen panel

How I Paint Fast Changing Light Effects

There's this old farmhouse in my town that has long been abandoned and new development is encroaching upon it.  There are many paintings I want to make from this subject but of particular interest is how, at sunset, the pine tree next to the house casts cool purple shadows on the warm red brick.  The problem is that this light only lasts 30 minutes at most and a camera isn't able to capture the colors.   I could do some color studies in the field and paint the finished piece in the studio....but I wanted to paint the entire picture en plein air.

So, how do I capture a fleeting light effect en plein air? 

Pre-work: I went to the location several months ago and did a series of sketches in my sketchbook to work out possible compositions.  At home I decided which one I liked best and further developed the value structure in pencil.  With the composition decided upon I waited for a night with clear skies and potential for a nice sunset then went out and set up to paint.

Painting:  I arrived an hour before the light I was looking for so I had time to set up and do a detailed drawing on my painting surface of the composition I had worked out.  Next, I mixed some piles of local colors to correspond with the major elements (sky, tree, house in light, house in shade, foreground grasses).  The colors would still need some modification to match the effect of the sunset lighting but the relative values of the piles were accurate to my vision of how I wanted the painting to look and this is most important.  These pre-mixed piles help me to paint faster because my starting point is almost already a match.  It's important to adjust color without significantly changing the value of a pile...otherwise you risk messing up the underlying value structure of the painting.
As soon as the sunset light was right and the cast shadows from the pine tree were in place I started painting.  I adjusted colors and painted patches in the sky and building...focusing on the relationship of sun and shadows on the building.  I didn't try to finish, just get the major shapes in and color relationships correct.

Wrap-up:  Soon, the sun was behind the mountains and the scene had changed from my concept.  However, the sky remained light enough for another hour to keep painting.  At this stage I focused mostly on the painting and completing the colors and patterns I had put down during sunset.  I only refer back to the actual subject for information on details like windows and trim.  As it became dark, I set up my book light which allowed me to finish the painting.  My book light provides a nice white light that doesn't add a color cast to the colors.  This little light enabled me to stay the extra 30 minutes and complete the painting.

I'd love to hear from you so leave a comment!

Oh, and don't for get to "like" it or "share it" or "pin it" or "+1" it....ugh...but it does help me build my business!  Thanks.

Four Paintings, Four Locations, in Fourteen Hours - PAAC Painting Marathon

Plein Air Artists Colorado held their first dawn to dusk painting marathon Saturday and I decided it would be a good "workout" for me.  We started at 5:30AM with a sunrise painting in Denver, Colorado.  Next we drove to the world-famous Red Rocks Amphitheater for a second painting.  After  lunch we drove further into the mountains for an afternoon painting then ended up in Evergreen, Colorado for our final evening painting and show.  It was great fun!  Here's my work for the day, in chronological order:

Denver at Dawn
6.5"x6.5" Oil on Linen

Glowing Light at Red Rocks
12"x12" Oil on panel

Spring Flower on the Forest Floor
6"x8" Oil on linen

Last Light on the 18th Hole
9"x12" Oil on wooden panel

The Artist's work on display

Perfect Spring Morning

Cool mornings, cotton candy clouds, trees budding with new life and meadows full of wild flowers - that's what this painting is all about.

"The Perfect Spring Morning"
9"x12"  |  Oil on linen panel  |  © Scott Ruthven 2013  |  Private collection

New Painting - Spring Growth

Spring is magical in the Rocky Mountains.  The soft, rubbery new growth on the tips of the pine trees inspired this painting.  The bright greens on the tips contrast nicely with the violet Pasque Flower blossoms on the forest floor.

"Spring Growth"
8"x6" |  Oil on linen mounted to gatorboard

Homemade Wet Panel Carrier

Well, here I go again...instead of forking over $20 for a commercially available wet panel carrier my creative self says "you can make that from crap laying around the garage" AND, "it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes".  Of course it took more than 30 minutes but I did re-use a "found" 18"x24" campaign sign which makes it a one-of-a-kind.

Here are the steps:

This is the 18"24" campaign yard sign (I have already made the cuts necessary).  It is made of corrugated plastic.

After measuring for the panel size I need to store (9"x12" for this one) I laid out the fold lines with pen and used a razor blade to carefully cut these channels to allow for folding.

Testing the folds:

Here I'm gluing guides (1/8" wood strips from Hobby Lobby) to the inside of the plastic shell.  Super Glue works great.  Space wood to allow for single or back-to-back storage of the panels you use.  The two edge pieces of the box are also shown here - they have wood guides glued to them and aligned with the guides glued to the bottom of the main box.

Guides are spaced to store a single panel on each end and two back-to-back in the middle.

The box assembled.  The two side/edge pieces are taped into place with strong duct tape - Gorilla Tape in this case:

I stuck on three hook and loop fasteners to the top flap will close securely:

Here's what it looks like with the panels loaded:

Good luck!