10.75" x 13.75" watercolor on Arches w/c board

I went painting with the Ohio Plein Air Society last Saturday. It was a little crisp but the sun came out and there was some beautiful light. I fought through some thorn bushes to get this angle across the pond back into the barn and I think it was worth it. Still experimenting with watercolor and really liking the experience.

12" x 16" oil on canvas

This was my entry into the Ohio Plein Air Society competition last Sunday. I tried something new by trying to focus most of the attention on the foreground pumpkins. It was an interesting morning as the sun was out most of the time but then I got rained on about half way through as well. I also had the local newspaper stop by for pictures and a short interview. The link for that is here. I only got up there to paint on Saturday due to a busy schedule.

8" x 10" oil on canvas

This was the other painting that I finished during the competition weekend. It was a bit overcast for this one. I had a lot of great visitors during this one. One of the things I like about plein air is the people you meet.

12" x 16" oil on canvas

I did this painting last Saturday as part of the White’s Mill challenge sponsored by the Ohio Plein Air Society and Russell Chamberlain, of Athens Real Estate Company. Thanks to he and Jeff Risner for setting this up. It wound up being a nice day although a little overcast at times. There was judging at the end of the day along with wine and cheese. I was honored to receive an honorable mention which means my painting will hang at the real estate office for the next month amongst some other great paintings. And they are for sale too. If your in the area, get on down there and check out the show.

9" x 12" oil on canvas panel

I had the opportunity to paint this past Saturday with the Ohio Plein Air Society group in Athens Ohio. I chose a location outside of the left field wall of the Ohio University baseball field looking across the river at the old insane asylum turned museum. It was a great sunny day with a high around 68. There was a game about to begin on the field and someone hit a home run while taking batting practice. I heard the cheers and looked up in time to see it sailing over the fence and came to a stop about 20 yards away from me. Nobody came after it so I kept it as a souvenir from the day. The painting still has a little glare on it. I’ll take a better one later.

© 2009 Robin Roberts 16" x 12" oil on panel

This was painted in plein air at the Columbus Museum of Art as a part of the Remembering Russell exhibit. It has been juried in as one of the final paintings to be exhibited at the museum for a couple of weeks and  then paintings will be sold at a benefit auction on Sept. 18th. They are taking this garden out to make room for expansion. So they are doing this special exhibition to honor the man and this garden. This was a little different for me as I have not ever painted a sculpture before. The statue was pretty much gray but with the sun and shade hitting it as it was it had a bit of a purplish cast to it. I decided to over emphasis that to add a bit more interest in the painting. I also took some liberty’s with the bushes growing around the statue.

I am excited to have had this painting chosen to be in the exhibit. Hopefully, it sells and will be a benefit to the museum. The opening reception for this exhibit is on September 10th with the benefit auction and gala event at the museum on September 18th.

Moore Farm, 9" x 12" oil on linen

This past Sunday was an OPAS paintout event in Hartville, Ohio. It was very well organized with maps and painting locations already mapped out and permissions already granted. I painted at the Moore farm which is a tree farm and also a place to go and cut flowers. What I saw was mostly day lilies, but I hear they also have quite a hosta collection as well. One thing I really liked about this paintout was the critique at the end. That was handles by Dino Massaroni and a few of the other artists that knew what they were talking about also chimed in. Dino is a pro and it showed in his comments and assessments of each painting. Not a job just anyone can handle. Being a graphic designer, I’m used to criticism and being relatively new to painting, especially with oils, I really appreciated it. What you see here is the revised painting. I came home and made the changes right away. Some of things they commented about for this painting was needing more separation between the paintings, Needing a darker sky to separate from the roofs of these two buildings and also less detailed so as to not take the emphasis away from the subject of the painting. Another artist also commented that I needed less of a ladder effect on the right side with my darks and lights. I tried to even that out the best I could.

Lakeside Hollyhocks: This was the first painting that I did for the weekend on Friday morning. Mostly this was painted under an umbrella as it rained off and on all morning. That’s why it looks a bit gray in the painting. BTW – the shadow at the top is from the easel. This painting sold at the wet-paint sale. Thanks.

The Whitehouse: This painting was started on Friday afternoon after the rain cleared out and the sun came out nice and bright. However, it is right along the lakefront and the wind got to be too much for me. Plus, I needed to head back to Ashland to coach a semi final Pony league baseball game for my son Sam’s team. We were in the looser’s bracket. We won. I ended up finishing this one on Saturday afternoon. I waited until afternoon to try and catch that same light as on Friday afternoon. I also had to leave to coach another tournament game on Saturday. This one was the finals. We won the first game which meant we had to play another game as it was double-elimination. Unfortunately, we lost in the second game 2 – 1. This one was purchased by the homeowners. Thanks guys. I appreciate it.

Hotel Lakeside: This one was started on Saturday morning. It was a little cooler on Saturday and it showed in what everyone was wearing. I think I got a little crazy with the shadow coming in from the right side. They were pretty intense but not like that. I think I may try to fix that. We’ll see.

Wooden Boat: This one was done on Sunday around noon when the boats came in for the wooden boat show that was going on in conjunction with the wet paint sale. I decided to try to loosen up and did this one purely with palette knives. Not sure how I feel about this look but there seemed to be a fair amount of interest at the sale.

9" x 12" oil on canvas panel - Lakeside Hollyhocks

12" x 9" oil on canvas panel - The Whitehouse

9" x 12" Oil on canvas panel - Hotel Lakeside

8" x 10" oil on canvas panel - Wooden Boat

Kingwood Fountain - 12" x 9" oil on canvas panel

This was painted this past Saturday as part of a scheduled paintout with OPAS. There was a good bunch of artists there on a day where the sun came out and it was nice but got a little windy. I tried starting this painting on a dark background. It was kind of like pulling light out of the darkness. You had to go pretty thick with the paint right away. I had to leave early to go to my son’s baseball game but I wish I could have stayed to see what other fellow artists had created. Hopefully they will get something up on their web site soon. I am thoroughly looking forward to the next gathering. I enjoy getting out on my own too but there is something special about the camaraderie and feedback from fellow artists. See you next time.