Morris Path

On Saturday, May 3, I participated in the Whitemarsh Art Center Plein Air/Paint Out.  It was a beautiful day for painting.  Corinne, the manager of the art center, let me borrow a day pass to the Morris Arboretum, where I painted the scene shown.  I was drawn to the area with blooming cherry trees.  For my reference, I took a photo of my palette when I was done.  The colors on my palette were as follows: white (mix of titanium and flake), ultramarine blue, cerulean, Payne's gray, Gamblin Portland gray deep, premixed gray at Munsell value 9, premixed ultramarine blue/white at Munsell value 8, viridian, permanent alizarin crimson, raw sienna, cadmium lemon yellow, yellow ochre pale, cadmium red light, manganese violet, plus a few other accent colors (cobalt violet deep, alizarin carmine and indanthrene violet).  I sketched the scene with cerulean blue acrylic ink.  The palette is 11" x 14" tempered glass, painted gray on the back.  The palette photo is shown below.
(c) 2014 Charles Snell.

Chestertown "Paint the Town" 2014

The fifth annual "Paint the Town" plein air event in Chestertown, Maryland concluded this weekend.  I was one of 45 artists participating in this event, which began on Thursday.  The photo shows my entries in the exhibit, all of which were painted en plein air.  At upper left is a 12" x 16" oil painting, "Inn at Huntingfield Creek."  To the right is another 12" x 16" oil painting, "Culp House Garden."  At the bottom is an 18" x 14" oil painting, "Huntingfield Barn."  During the exhibit, "Culp House Garden" sold.  The event was sponsored by Chestertown RiverArts.  Paintings (c) 2014 Charles Snell.

Cherry Grove Farm

This oil sketch was painted in 2013 at Cherry Grove Farm, Lawrenceville NJ.
(c) 2013 Charles Snell.

Bailey's on the Rocks

Oil on Board, "Bailey's on the Rocks".  12 in x 16 in. (c) 2014 C Snell

Hammonton Plein Air Competition

Today I completed in the 7th annual Plein Air Competition in Hammonton, sponsored by the Noyes Museum of Art.  There were over twenty artists participating.  The weather was fair but a little bit windy.  I kept enough ballast on the easel and did not have a problem with the easel falling over!

I submitted two paintings.  The first one was done at the intersection of South 2nd Street and Grape Street.  I found some sunlight hitting the front of a house and started painting at about 9 a.m.  I used some acrylic ink for sketch, followed by addition of values using the largest brush possible.  I wanted to grab the shape of the light quickly.  Here is the reference photo:

The following photos are some shots of the work in progress.  The ink used in sketching (red) drips down but gets painted over later.  After looking at these photos I see there is need for some adjustments - one of the windows is tilted and I managed to separate the sky into two pieces with the chimney... In addition to the issue of making the whole structure too narrow!

 

The following images show my two framed paintings on display in the Hammonton Arts Center.  The works submitted for the plein air competition will be on display there until April 26, 2014.  Use the link provided above to get the phone number for HAC.  The second painting was completed in the afternoon in about two hours.  I set up my easel on Bellevue Avenue for the second painting.  All images (c) 2014 Charles Snell.

Oil painting on board "201 Grape", 16 in x 20 in

Oil painting on board "Loco", 11 in x 14 in

Pitcher

This still life painting was submitted to the 2013 Perkins Center for the Arts Members/Faculty Exhibit, for which a merit award was presented.  The scene was composed in Phil Carroll's class. (c) 2013 Charles Snell.

Westfield

Saturday was warm with some gusty winds.  I went to the park in Moorestown near Swedes Run to paint a study of winter trees.  I tried to keep the palette simple by using a few neutral grays, phthalo blue, mars orange, yellow ochre and buff titanium.  The sky is a mix of ultramarine blue and titanium white.