Doug Madill
Jersey City, NJ
I'm currently painting out of Jersey City, NJ. Long live plein air artists, so don't forget to wear sunscreen and remember to get your greens.
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Doug Madill
•
3yr
added a new topic
Edit Profile page: SAVE CHANGES button not workingI wanted to modify my profile page a bit, but I cannot save afterwards. The SAVE CHANGES button seems not working properly in Safari and Brave browsers.
How will the world know how awesome I really am? Darn it! LOL
DM
Gino Datuin
•
3yr
I've seen people start plein air paintings, then after a certain amount of time when there have been too many changes in the environment, they work on it again in studio, from imagination or a reference photo they took at the site. What do artist typically change or look for when starting a plein air painting, then adjusting and finishing the painting later in the studio?
In the beginning, plein air artists want a good visual foundation to support the subsequent stages of the painting, usually a simple harmony of abstract shapes at first. A lot of conflict, surprise, and intuition, too, enters into the creation of the painting. If they take on new information in a scene that they haven't tried painting before, they might take risks during the act of painting to express what they see; they may not succeed at first. They may have a revelation afterwards and use the painting in the studio to experiment and learn from.
Charlene
•
3yr
Asked for help
Hi Marshall and Stan,
I forgot to mention this in my original post but I was also wondering if you had any tips for painting at night time and carrying wet paintings back. Is there a limit of paintings you do so you don't carry too many wet paintings back that's unmanageable?
I use a very bright book light to paint under, it's a clip-on for books, but it works fine if you keep it evenly lighting the canvas and palette relatively the same way, otherwise all kinds of value skewing in your painting will result if your palette illumination is different than the surface you paint on. I scout an area way before sunset and get a drawing established on my canvas before it gets too dark to fine tune areas. Let your eye adjust to the subtle dark tones in nature after looking at your bright workspace. As for painting transport, there are so many canvas clips with handles solutions you can buy over the internet for this very thing about carrying wet paintings home, otherwise just leave the painting on the easel clamp and carry it that way. HTH.
rajnesh kumar
•
3yr
Asked for help
hi, what are some of the differences and challenges the artist have between outdoor and indoor? how to deal with people and not get them mess with the artist mind? i tried painting 3 times and i had extremely hard time mixing color, it went muddy to fast. the light kept changing and as i'm not proficient in mixing color fast i would be lost and didn't know what to do next. talk about the materials to carry.
I always try to be nice to people out on the street, they have as much a right to be there as you do.
When I bring home a painting from outside, I always expect my indoor eye will detect areas I had trouble with and think back to that moment outside. We all hope for the best. Usually, when a light/dark value wasn't behaving as it should, chances are you painted everything within too narrow a value range. Color won't matter if the value is off. Slightly exaggerate your expression of the lightest light and the darkest dark when you're outside to give your painting more room for value expression.
Jonah Sanders
•
3yr
Hey guys! When attempting Plein Air, I usually have a really hard time framing the scene. I find it difficult to distill down everything around me into such a small space. Any quick composition skills that might help me get started?
Cut out a rectangle window from an 8x10 piece of cardboard and see through that...? Ask yourself how much time do you have to get all the information you framed to a painted scene on your canvas. Talk to yourself about what you plan to do in the painting, why you like what you like, and how you will express that in paint. This may help organize your workflow when you have a clearer purpose outlined for the painting.
@claireh
•
3yr
What do you think are pros and cons to using watercolours/gouache, oils, acrylics, maybe even inks, when doing plein air paintings? There's no right or wrong and it's probably personal preference but I'm just curious as a beginner
Start very basic with new materials. Practice value studies with a warm/cool palette of a brown color and a blue color plus white. Water base paints are easier to work with in all aspects, very portable, and there's more room for experimentation and combination of media possible; oils require more careful setup and clean up.
Doug Madill
•
3yr
I paint mostly in the urban environment with acrylic paint on 9x12 panels. ACM panels are great to paint with, they're lightweight and durable. Oil paint is great but I like working in water based media because of my work flow and clean up.
Two plein air artists come to mind when I'm on instagram: James Gurney, and Marc Dalessio.
Viewing a gallery that exhibits plein air paintings here in NYC is rare, unknown to me. Grand Central Atelier held a plein air exhibit once in Long Island City a few years ago, and I was pumped.
Are there published critics of contemporary plein air paintings? Until then, one might run into Jerry Saltz at a major art museum and he might dispense a few nuggets. In passing once, he said something about escaping the pathos of Hopper, which sounds right.
Could plein air painting also be thought of as performance art?
When is this segment airing? Thanks for thinking of plein air painting, I can't wait to hear this!
