Artistic Release

My five year old daughter, Olivia, must have about 100 paintings to her credit. Many times while dad is painting she has to also… Livie got acrylic paints, brushes, and an easel for Christmas and was well armed for her first plein air outing with dad this past Sunday. The out of season weather at 75 degrees had plenty to do with our choice to make Sunday afternoon… the day a new plein air painter was born.

We set up at the Cedar Point State Park and Maritime Forest to paint a marsh scene.

I drew a simple sketch of the scene for Livie and she quickly got busy with her brush.

I was quite impressed at how well she was doing… she asked me what colors things should be and I taught her how to look and notice things. She soon was able to recognize her colors and only needed my help in asking what colors she had to mix together to get the colors she needed… which she mixed and applied.

We met many people as we positioned ourselves on the boat ramp near a dock. Olivia was quite the social butterfly as usual talking to each and everyone who came by… saying things like… “Me and my dad are painting”… “You can buy my dad’s painting but mine is not for sale”. We had a great time talking to Donnie and Connie (I think… sorry if I’m wrong) Banks who took the pictures of us together…. including this one of the artists at work and the view we were painting.

Don’t you just love that hand on that hip?…. that’s our Livie!

Here’s Olivia’s first plein air painting… she titled it…

“Daddy’s Art Class”…  Artist: Olivia ,8×10, Acrylics on canvasboard, en plein aire, 1-14-2007.

Here’s mine…

“A Pleasant Afternoon at Cedar Point”… 5×7″ Oil on Panel, en plein aire, 1-14-2007.

Needless to say… Olivia finished before I did and found time to make mud pies and play in the water…

As you can see from that last photo the tide began to come in on us… the day and paintings were done…

A GREAT day… a GREAT painting day… a GREAT father and daughter day!

Yesterday was a glorious day in Eastern North Carolina so I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and paint one of my favorite spots on earth… Enon Chapel Baptist Church.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100:4,5

 Sanctuary… 9″x12″ Oil on Panel, en plein aire, October 1, 2006. (2 1/2 hours)

God id good… ALL the time!

Hope to hear comments from my brothers and sisters at Enon…

Bernie

Sunday evening we had a break in the humidity so I decided to spend some quiet time plein aire painting in Swansboro. Swansboro… spelled Swansborough at the time it was visited by famed pirate, Blackbeard… is a small coastal town near my home. A perfect opportunity and setting for painting outdoors.

While painting this scene I met many interesting people (hey Jim, Hunter,Emerson, and others) and had plenty of good conversations to add to the experience. Emerson (Emmy) even shared some of her artwork with me… a beautiful fish drawing that was beyond her years.

“View from Swansboro”…  9″x12″ Oil on canvasboard, en plein aire, 2 hours, August 13, 2006.

Had a GREAT evening… and although I missed the evening service at church… I witnessed the beauty of God first hand.

Bernie

We had a great time on vacation… it’s was tough leaving the mountains coming home to 100+ temperatures though.

Between kayaking, hiking, caving, fishing, and cooking I did manage to go plein aire painting on three separate occassions… very therapeutic and relaxing for me…

The Definition of Plein Aire or en plein aire, is a French phrase that translates “in the open air”. This term is used to describe paintings that have been created chiefly outdoors, rather than in the studio.

Here I am painting at a small lake on the mountain near our family lodge…

It seems that most of my plein aire excursions are centered around these vacations. I need to either take more vacations or paint more plein aire at home on the coast…

This painting is of the New River (one of the oldest rivers in the world… rumored to be the second oldest) as seen from the foot of mountain where we stay. Here the New River winds lazily along… my kids love to play in it. They call it the “Rock River”.

“The Rock River”…. 9″x12″ Oil on canvasboard, en plein aire, July 2006.

Livie and Christian were picking/eating blackberries while I was painting… Tami made seven pints of jelly from the blackberries they picked that week…

Thanks for looking… your comments are always welcome.
Bernie

One of my favorite ways to paint is on location “en plein aire”… the French term literally translates “in open air”.  This scene is of the “Church of the Holy Cross” in Valle Crucis, NC.  It was established in 1842 and the old stone look was just begging to be painted.  Tami dropped me off with my gear and a water bottle giving me about three hours of solitude to capture this beautiful scene. 

I will always remember the afternoon as very special because a lone bagpiper played for the entire time I was there. He was pacing a path on a distant hill just out of site. To hear Amazing Grace played on the pipes while I painted made the session very spiritual for me… it made me appreciate my Scottish ancestry as well (Clan Ramsay). I can still hear those tunes wafting through the glens of those beautiful Blue Ridge mountains.

In Faith, Bernie

“Church of the Holy Cross”, 12″x9″ Oil on Canvas Board, “en plein aire”, 2005

Close-Ups…