Summer Painting

Coming up in July after getting back from our vacation, I am looking at finding a number of sites around Delaware County to paint as I have just been accepted into the Community Arts Center juried art show to be held in Media, PA September 22nd.    I can only sell original watercolors so will be busy painting new watercolors of all sizes.

One of the locations I will be working on are some historic homes in Chester county.  One will be the 1704 Brinton House.  I will also be working on over 100 of my new ideas that I will take from 100 new photos I have taken this spring.

KEY LEARNING EXPERIENCE:   After touring the Wyeth Studio in May, we recently went back in June with my wife, daughter and a guest visiting from Charlotte.  During that tour, it became apparent it would be really helpful to understand how Andrew Wyeth decided what to paint and then how he turned that idea into a painting.  He believed that you had to paint what your really were close to and knew very well.  He learned to concentrate in this way by his father - N, C, Wyeth.  So he concentrated on local homes, people , hills , trees, etc. from Chadd's Ford and the area around Rockland, Maine. As I read more about him and heard him speaking in the video - " Snow Hill", an even greater desire to learn to improve my painting and my watercolors began to grow in me.  While I will never be able to paint people like he did, my goals will be to improve my landscapes and still lifes as well as begin to paint people. 

STARBUCKS IN WEST CHESTER

This past week we were walking walking around West Chester and went to the Starbucks and saw that two of my :lein Air paintings are hanging in the shop on Gay Street.  So if you stop in there, you can see two of the paintings I did on the street.  The Academic House and The Sharpless House.  This is the Academic House on East Washington...just east of High Street.  Go see if you can find it.

PAINT THE TOWN...A SUCCESS

This past week, I spent from Tuesday to Friday painting in West Chester, PA.  Tuesday, I set up my chair and paint supplies under a treee in Marshall Park and painted the Sharpless home that was across the street.   Fortunately  there was a slight breeze that felt good on the hot day.  In the afternoon, I went to East Washington Street and painted the Academic house.  It was a French Academic School according to a book I purchased of Walking tours of West Chester by Mowrey.  I also sketched and started painting a small watercolor of a porch in East Washington nearby.
The next morning despite some spritzing I sketched and painted the Woman's Exchange on South Church Street.  In the afternoon, I focused on the office on the corner of Market and Church Streets.   The photo of this building is in the earlier blog post.

I painted about 80% of those that afternoon and was able to sketch a small backyard and garden on South Walnut before I finished for the day.   A kind gentleman came out of this house and shared some interesting details about the house including the fact it was built in 1855.

Thursday, I set up my chair and sketched across from Fairman's Skate Board store on Gay Street. That was a challenge because there was a stop sign right by the corner so often trucks and cars blocked my view.  A friend of mine joined me to sketch while I painted and when we finished this, we went back to South Walnut.  I was hoping to paint the backdoor and yard, which by the way contained over 67 varieties of roses.  The owner had moved his car out of the driveway for me to get a clear view of that wonderful back door and garden.  What a treat to paint this scene.
Friday I spent matting, framing and finishing s few little details on some of the watercolors before delivering 7 paintings to the 7th floor of the Chestnut St parking garage.  That evening, in spite of rain that was heavy at times, there was an art show and sale.  The next night, 400 people turned out for the West Chester Business Club's Gala that was a fund raiser.
I throughly enjoyed the experience.   This process of painting outdoors helped me in several ways.  I found I was painting quicker,  highlights and details near the center of interest were saved and other areas had less detail and the finished painting seemed to have captured the colors more realistically.
I look forward to continuing to paint " PLAIN AIR".

COME SEE THE FREE ART SHOW ....PAINT THE TOWN OF WEST CHESTER

Since Tuesday morning, I have been going around West Chester in Chester County working on paintings of different buildings and locations.  Some are historic and some our buildings that look historic but I do not know when they were built.
Tuesday I painted the Sharples home near Marshall park, then the Academic house built in 1852 by carpenter Robert Lowery.  I finished the day by sketching and painting a home near the Academic house on East Washington.  I completed all three that day.
The next day was cloudy and slightly rainy in the morning but I started with the Woman's Exchange built around 1836 with the store next to it.  Then I began sketching the building at the Northeast corner of Market and Church st. that has a great porch roof.  Finally I sketched the Lincoln Building and a back yard garden on South Walnut.
Today I finished painting one building and drew and painted the skate board shop on Gay Street.
Come to the free Art show on the roof of the Chestnut St parking garage on Friday , June 1st.......so come see what 40 artists painted over the past three days.

Here is the corner of Market and South Church St.

Andrew Wyeth Studio

I could not believe it.  The Brandywine River Museum is opening Andrew Wyeth's first home and studio for tours.  And in May, they organized a Wyeth immersion day with visits to N.C. Wyeth home and studio, viewing SNOW HILL the movie about Andrew Wyeth, tour the Wyeth art collection with a docent, tour the Andrew Wyeth studio and visit the Kuerner farm on Ring Road.

I had been to N.C's studio and the Kuerner farm, but to have an opportunity to see Wyeth's own studio was something I dreamed off.
After touring the third floor gallery and seeing a collection of paintings and studies Andrew did of his studio, we boarded the mini bus and went to the studio.  It was the home for Andrew and Betsy when they were first married.  Then later he used it as one of his studios until mid 2008.  One section includes Jamie's studio set up as if he just painted the portrait of President John Kennedy.
What a special honor for a watercolorist to see how the most well known watercolor artist of our day painted and his studio.

I think the several things that seemed to resonate with me after hearing about the Wyeth's and their paintings.  First, their desire for accuracy.  Second,  paint what you know and it will show in your paintings..  Hence painting only in two major areas of the country - Chadd's Ford and Maine.
But it was interesting to see how they painted differently.  N.C. generally painted with bright colors and mostly in oil.  Andrew only painted in oil in his father's studio but when he was on his own, he painted with watercolor and egg tempera.  He also painted in colors around Chadd's Ford in typical weed and dead grass colors like burnt umbra, yellow ochre, etc. so not the bright colors like his father's unless you have seen some of his paintings in Maine.
Let me recommend that you organize a trip to the Brandywine River Museum after June 1st and take the tour of Andrew Wyeth's studio as it will be a memory you will think of the rest of your life........especially if you are an artist.