En Plein Air: Orange Cones (the Construction Site of I-75 New Ramp to the SW Florida Airport)

Oil 9 x 12

I tried to get rid of the bad feeling from having to complete the plein air painting at home from the pictures I took last week. I felt I had to go to the construction site again to refresh my sensation of the sunshine. That is why I went again this morning.

I meant to paint the heavy machinery on the construction site with strong reflection of the sun. However, when I got there this morning, I could not find an acceptable perspective. So I decided to paint the dirt road which was formed by the heavy machinery and trucks trampling back and forth on the the dirt piled there. This is the first time I feel strongly impressed by the magnitude of highway construction.

Alla Prima Portrait: Henry in Hammock (Oil, 12 x 16)

Henry is the second child of my friends Pen and Woody. He is an avid reader. While I was painting him this morning, he was reading a Roald Dahl's book in a hammock.

Alla Prima Portrait: Anthony (Oil, 20 x 16)

Anthony is a regular model at VAC Punta Gorda. Even though I saw him a couple of times at the Center, I never got a chance to paint him. As far as I remember, he usually came when we needed two models. Wheneve we have two models during the busy season, chances are models show up after we have set up. Most probably in the past, I always happened to set up at the site for the other model instead Anthony. Today we used only one model and it was Anthony. I didn't know what he did for a living. Some people told me he made jewelry. If so, he must be a jewelry artist. As we were painting, I could not but speak my mind and told Anthony that he looked like Willy Nelson. It turned out that I was not the first person to say that. I got his likeness all right, which alone is not enough to please myself any more. It's not my best, but as practice, it's all right.

En Plein Air: Woody Working on His Sailboat (Oil, 9 x 13)

As planned, I went this afternoon to Woody's docks while he was working on the sailboat. It was a beautiful day, with low humidity and a little breeze which made it really comfortable staying outdoors. My purpose was to paint people in the sun, maybe inspired by Joaquin Sorolla Y Bastida. Of course, the best place is the beach where the sunshine, especially the reflection is strong, but I was dreading the crowd. The quick sketch is not focused on people. Just a study of sunlight.

En Plein Air: Roaming Around His World (Oil, 9 x 12)

As I told you, I was unable to complete on the spot last Saturday the painting of airport reconstruction and had to take home and finish it in studio. During and after I finished the painting, I had an uncomfortable bad feeling. I liked the first half I did at the airport. Even though it was only a little toned, I felt good about it. When I tried to finish it at home, I felt as if I was not painting but doing some kind of tedious labor. I lost the inspiration I had felt out there in the sun. It seemed for the first time I truly understood why Joaquin Sorolla Y Bastida almost moved his studio outdoors to the beach. That is why I felt lost when I completed the painting. I felt I needed to do something to regain my sensation out there in the open. Yesterday afternoon I went to my friend Woody's dock to fish while he was fixing a sailing boat. I mentioned that I'd like to paint him working on the boat. He told me to come back Tuesday afternoon when He would be working on the boat in sun. I was happy to hear that and planned to go there tomorrow (Tuesday). For this afternoon, I tried to prepared myself so I went to my other friends Dennis and Rocky's farm. Finally, I decided to paint their pony with only two things in my mind. That is, I want an accurate form and authentic sensation of the sunshine.

En Plein Air: Airport Reconstruction (Oil, 11 x 18)

Two weeks ago when I was on my way to Gulf Coast Town Center to paint and passed by SW Florida Airport, I was impressed by the Magnitude of the construction project. It seems that another highway is under construction leading to the airport. The new highway is meant to cut across Treeline Blvd. at the entrance of the airport. The yellow sandy dirt had been piled like several  mountain ridges stretching out all way to the horizon. Without any vegetation to cover on top, the sandy dirt was so glaring and bright that it was difficult to open my eyes. So I decided right away that I would come here to paint.

I went there early this morning, thinking nobody would come to work. After I set up on the roadside and began to paint, I heard someone whistling at me from the mountain ridge behind. I turned around, a guy wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses got out of a pickup and made a gesture asking if I was painting. I nodded yes and he gave me a thumb-up signal. I guess he was something like an assistant manager on the construction and happened to come on Saturday to check on the site. Obviously there were lots of machinery and construction materials there.

Half way in my painting, another guy stopped his truck. He seemed to be something like supervisor. He apologized to me and said he had to ask me to leave the site because people were coming to work  and it was dangerous for me to stay there. He suggested I come to paint tomorrow when nobody was working. I didn't want to make another trip so reluctantly I took a few pictures and completed the painting at home.

In this corner, there is a bulldozer, a gas tank, a shipping container and a garbage bin. I didn't know why the bulldozer had its hood up. Since I was unable to visualize what it looked like with the hood down, I simply painted as it was.

Alla Prima Portrait: Jess (Oil 20 x 16)

This is the second time I painted Jess. Like usual, I took to VAC only a size 16 x 20 canvas paper for a head study since most of times models came simply wearing their daily dress, nothing dramatic or theatrical and/or sitting in the high chair with no specific postures. I didn't anticipate to do figure painting. Today, Jess came in a beautiful red dress with a hairband and Trudy brought from library an easy chair. Before we started, Trudy asked f anybody would like to do a figure since the situation was different and Jess was dressed up. At first, I was hesitant since 16 x 20 was really too small to do a figure. When I looked around, everybody seemed to be still doing head study, not responding to Trudy's call. So, I told myself, what the heck, I'll do it. I didn't have clear edge small-size brushes, so it was a little difficult when I was working on the face, but I enjoyed doing that. Some kind of experiences.