Mini Tree Study

Oil on Illustration Board

I did this awhile back on a plein air excursion with my PCAD students. It was a really quick study. I had fun with it but I was only using a four color palette and it felt limited to me. Normally I like that challenge but I was getting frustrated with it.

In a few weeks we will be in Colorado. We will be doing some plein air painting with Will Spear who graduated with us from Uarts. His paintings are amazing and I'm looking forward to setting up shop a few times in Yellowstone and possibly the Tetons!

His wife Shelly is extremely knowledgeable on the plants and flowers in the area so I may be picking her brain for names. If I don't get too carried away with all the hiking and sight seeing I may be able to create a good sketch book from this trip. We'll see....I will at least come back with a great farmers tan!

Plein Air Excursion

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Dominick Saponaro

Last week we went to Jersey and stood in the middle of tomato fields for the afternoon to do a little plein air painting. For those who are unfamiliar with the term plein air it basically means painting on location.

I started with a grey acrylic tone over gessoed wood panel. I then drew out the composition in raw umber oil with just gamsol as a medium. Then hit with color. I used alkyd white (for fast dry time), rose madder, cad yellow, raw umber, colbalt blue and sap green. It is quite liberating to only use a handful of colors instead of my normal assortment. Next time I'll switch up the colors for a different palette.