Plein Error

To wit, the artist fails to honor the plein air canvas with grace and so is forced to redeem himself in the studio… As I packed up my gear at the studio and gave one look over my shoulder at the vase of sunflowers I had bought the day before, intending to paint them today, I thought for a second that I heard a little voice say “What about us? You don’t love us!” I shook it off, locked up, and went downstairs to pack the bike up for some plein air painting. However, to err is human. Excuse me […]

Colorful Kayaks and Snow Blindness

In which, seduced by the color of pretty little boats, the artist becomes the victim of snow blindness and so can’t paint worth a damn. That’s my excuse. Loading up the bike and speeding north along the bike path from Pacific Grove to Monterey harbor and just beyond Pier 2 to Del Monte Beach, the brilliant colors of this sunny day buoyed my mood. The day before, on the way back from the dunes (see Monterey, a Mediterranean View) I had seen how happy and vivid Del Monte Beach could be on a sun-filled day. The nearly white sand threw […]

Plein Air Easton 2009

Below is the entire Plein Air Easton 2009 blog by Robert Lewis in chronological order. Contents Day One: In Training Intending to Paint Boats, I Got Distracted Fear of Boats Escape from the Fog Having My Way PAIN-ting Lessons Desiderata Lucidity, Thucydides, Lucidity Magical Helpers Day One at Plein Air Easton Let Nothing Stop You Fixed on a Star Give It Everything You’ve Got Changing the Palette [TOP] Day One: In Training You’d think that getting your painting supplies to Maryland would be simple. And it is, if you are willing to spend, spend, spend!! I checked the American Airlines […]

Changing the Palette

I know this feeling and I don’t like it. It’s the same feeling I get whenever I arrive home after weeks in some exotic land. It was there when I returned from the intense color and sweat of Tahiti. It’s ungloved hand slapped me when I came back to the warmth from the blue ice of Antarctica , and the wild landscape of Iceland . In Paris , it lurked behind every cafe table, every pretty smile, every bright and sunny memory-to-be, awaiting my return to America before it struck with its chill accuracy. As a teen, it was there […]

Give It Everything You’ve Got

” No one understands that you have given everything.  You must give more.“ — Antonio Porchia , Voces , 1943 The Quick Draw is an event loved and hated by an artist. On the one hand, it only lasts two hours and often your painting sells. On the other, you only have two hours to paint a painting that is worthy of being purchased. On top of that add in some hot asphalt, direct sun, temps in the 90s, humidity, and hundreds of onlookers. I learned much from my work this week and one thing was clear, people in a […]

Fixed on a Star

  “Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.“ — Leonardo da Vinci The painting you see here is the first painting I did in this year’s Plein Air Easton painting competition. It is “Cutts & Case Boat Yard”, 11″x14″ oil on canvas board. As usual, it is the best of the collection I put together in four days. Nine paintings in four days. It always seems that the first one I do is the best. But it was a good idea that I had scouted the location on the […]

Let Nothing Stop You

On day two of the Plein Air Easton painting competition, I woke up feeling ill. The ear infection that had gotten me down had not responded to the antibiotics and I felt worse. Getting out of bed seemed a great accomplishment. This was bad. Picking up the phone, I called my doctor on the West coast, in Carmel, California. I left a message, begging him to call in a refill to the antibiotics at a local pharmacy. I left the number for it. After a cup of tea and a bowl of oatmeal, I was nearly human again. At least, […]

Day One at Plein Air Easton

The day before the first day of the competition was a day of scouting locations. With my friend Tim, I explored Oxford, Maryland, a beautiful town of old houses and marina and boat yards. The weather was mild, in the low 80s and not humid. This was a good sign, an unusual sign for Maryland in July. I found a starting place for my first painting. It was in the Cutt and Case Boat yard. Hauled up on blocks was a small sailing boat that was being worked on. Standing just so, the was a view down its length to […]

Magical Helpers

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. “ — Joseph Campbell (Continued from yesterday…) If you’ve read my blog before, you will know this isn’t the first time I’ve used Campbell’s hero metaphor. Plein air painters are a kind of hero in the sense that he uses the word, leaving the common world, entering a region of wonder, beauty and uncertainty, struggling […]

Lucidity, Thucydides, Lucidity

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” — Thucydides Some visions form slowly over years, a piece here, a fragment there, like pieces of a puzzle fitting together, gradually forming into the picture of what you want, or how you want to be. Other visions come upon you all at once, vivid, tangible, full of a transforming power, fully formed, taking your breath away with their clarity, their lucidity. Unlike Thucydides, I was not retired when I had my vision […]