Plein Air at Scott's Landing

We had five folks participate in our Plein Air South group this past Friday at Scott's Landing (Jami Buck, Conroy Hudlow, Loren Chavez, Stephanie Morris and myself). It was a beautiful day and we were visited near the end of our session by the "pet" egret. Here are a couple of photos of our group and my attempt to capture the bait shop. The trees in the background were a beautiful fall palette. It was a beautiful day and we were visited near the end of our session by the "pet" egret.

Loren, Stephanie, Conroy and Jami at work, with onlooker nearby.

Conroy and Loren at work.

Here is Stephanie with her lovely painting of the marsh and the Tensaw River.

I've been trying to simplify my compositions and paint more loosely in oil. I'm getting there, but still could play with more and thicker application of paint. This one needs some more work back in the studio.

Jami has some really beautiful photos of this egret on her blog site. I have a photo from last summer of the same egret, and have been trying to finish a "portrait" painting of it - but am not quite satisfied yet with it. I'm also starting another "bird" painting with a group of laughing gulls from a photo I took last fall on the Dauphin Island Ferry. Both of these are due December 5th for a bird show that Bill Morris is curating. I'll post these once they are completed.

Mama Lisas, Figure Group, Plein Air and Mobile Art Association

Today I was one of two artist presenters at the monthly Mobile Art Association. My topic was "Evolution from Government Biologist to Artist - A Work in Progress". I outlined my efforts to prepare for the transition from a career biologist to being able to pursue my art activities full time. as well as the various activities I've been participating in. I've received much support from MAA and from my Mama Lisas painting friends. There really is a lot of opportunity in the Mobile arts community and I have found the artists to be very supportive of fellow artists in the community. Joseph Mwanzia was the other presenter. We all enjoyed his story of how he came to Mobile from Kenya, and how he was able to rekindle his interest in art. He is one of the winners of a purcase prize from the Art of Reading Show, which was his first show in Mobile.

I returned last Friday from a 10-day road trip to Colorado to visit the grand-babies, and we took a slight detour on the way back through New Mexico, passing very near Abiuqui where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted in her later years. It was absolutely beautiful there! When we returned I checked out the Mama Lisas exhibit at the Barnes & Noble "La Galerie du Loo" (formerly the Bathroom Hall Gallery). My Yard Sale Tractor and Old Barn at Kaiser Farm paintings are hanging there. We will hang there during November and December. Thanks to Kathy Friedline for arranging for this and getting my artwork there while I was out of town!

Thursday night I attended the Figure Group at Space 301. We were discussing the possibility of starting a Figure Group session on alternating Saturdays (similar to a setup at Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope). Cindy at Space 301 was very supportive of this activity. The artists in the group plan to rent the 301 facility and hire a model for the session(s); at a cost of $15 per session for each participating artist. We plan to start the Saturday sessions on Dec 5th and continue into the new year.


And on Friday, we started back up with our plein air painting. Three of us met at the Beachcomber Boatyard. There were numerous sailboats, shrimpboats and boatyard scenes, but I was somehow taken by a small skiff in the boatyard with the marsh in the background. Here is the scene with my small painting in the foreground. I was inspired by S.P. Goodman's website - he had lots of small very simplified plein air painting - just the suggestion of shapes with swabs of color. That was my inspiration anyway. It was a bit "freeing" to just quickly sketch the scene instead of trying to methodically capture all the details. We'll see if it carries over into next week's painting efforts.