Sunday, November 6, 2011

Playing in Plein Air

OH HI INTERNET! okay...so first blog post...this is new. so I'll just start with the most recent thing.

After reading about 3 months worth of James Gurney's blog  in a single day, I've decided that in order to improve my understanding of color, and life drawing, I need to venture into the realm of Plein Air painting.
From the Wikipedia page; "(Plein Air) is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors"

basically, what that means is taking a bunch of my art supplies with me where ever I go and draw from life where ever I end up being. since I'm hardly ever home, it will give me a chance to practice constantly.
since I'm short on funds, I will be using whatever mediums I have around. unfortunatly I don't own an easel that I could fold up and take with me, so I'll be doing my plein air studies via water color pencils. which I've never used... I was given a small set of Faber-Castell watercolor pencils a few years ago, but I've been so absolutely terrified of Watercolors that I've avoided them completely. until last night. Last night everything changed.

Mom and I are sitting in the van waiting on my sister to get out of rehearsal. all of a sudden I remember I have my sketchbook in my purse. I pull it out and stare at a page for 10 minutes trying to decide what to draw.

"Draw your animation characters!"  Richard Williams' voice whispered in my brain.
"No, plan out the chart for the bouncing ball animation you're supposed to work on. that's the next lesson in my book, you know."  Tony White this time.
"DRAW CUPCAKES AND SPIDERS AND RAINBOWS AND PONIES AND UNICORNS AND SKELETONS AND THE UNIVERSE!" ... O_O Brianna! get out of my head!

undecided, I pick up my ipod to check the time. I still have James Gurney's blog open on an article about plein air life drawing.

EUREKA MOMENT!

so I pick a view out of the van window that had interesting angles, and started sketching. This is what I end up with.
I'm fairly happy with it, considering I drew it in the dark, and in about 30 mins. I mean, it isn't perfect - but that's why I need to practice. :)

Anywho; so I get home, and after reading another hours worth of content on the Gurney Journey, I stumble onto a video of him doing a watercolor pencil plein air sketch. watch it here;



O_O...INSPIRED.
so I toss my room upside down and inside out until I discover my long-abandoned watercolor pencils. hesitantly, I gather my stuff to the kitchen table and sat down to practice. but what to paint?!

"CUPCAKES AND SPIDERS AND RAINBO-" Brianna, GET OUT OF MY HEAD! >.<!!
think think think...OH! Of Course! the picture I did earlier! it was soon enough after the fact that I still remembered the colors and moods, why not? so I did.


I have to say, I'm really loving the ease at which I can use these pencils to achieve that soft watercolor-y effect. So, they will be going in my Plein Air kit. I definatly need more practice with them. Ultimate goal of water color pencils - to be able to use them to quickly paint landscapes and backgrounds that  I can later use in my animations.

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