DANIEL SMITH » * Plein Aire Painting

Mitchell Albala Book Signing & Demo at DANIEL SMITH Art Supply: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice”

Deborah Burns — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:11:09 +0000

Mitchell Albala reading from his book: "Landscape Painting" at DANIEL SMITH Art Supply in Seattle

Our recent FREE demo at DANIEL SMITH Art Supply Store in Seattle with Mitchell Albala had a full house of Artists wanting to learn some tips from Mitchell during the demonstration, and who wanted Mitchell to sign their copy of his new Book: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice“. BTW – There is another FREE demo scheduled for April 25th, details below.

For this demo, Mitchell used a B&W photo, “Working from a B&W photo has less detraction at this stage rather than working from the color photograph”. The photo was of a house in a landscape, and Mitchell used it to demonstrate a 4 value study (with acrylic, best for quick black and white value studies) which is his exercise #2 outlined on page 64 of his book.

To begin the demo, Mitchell read a few sentences on “simplification and massing” which he discusses further on pages 57 & 58. Mitchell told us, “when you are looking at a landscape, it’s very overwhelming all the leaves, grass etc., and doing this value exercise makes you think about the values and basic shapes.” Simplification and massing are very important for landscape painting as it is with still life and figure, but even more important since there is so much detail and things competing for visual attention. This B&W exercise is very helpful in determining the important compositional elements, although Mitchell likes the word “design” better than composition because it denotes more thought and decision making by the Artist.

Mitchell Albala painting demo at DANIEL SMITH

When working Mitchell looks at the whole canvas and paints “holistically” not just from the upper left and working down, he is “trying to build the over all pattern and shape”. He is not painting the perfect house, but rather working over the entire canvas/paper. “The goal is to place shapes I can modify later”. By simplifying the shapes, you actually improve the focus of the painting. Watching Mitchell paint is like watching someone draw with the paint, rather than painting, much more dynamic. In the photo, MItchell pointed out that the road and sky are the same value (for this exercise he assigned a #2 value) so he told us he had to make a decision, he decided to keep the road a #2 value and blow the sky out to white.

Once Mitchell has the 4 values down he started to work on what he calls his “first pass”. Mitchell began to add value corrections which begin to pull out some details from the basic shapes he painted. He told us to use a big brush, because it helps to keep your shapes simple. Exercises like these are like “training” for the marathon (plein air painting) so that you are ready to paint outdoors. One of the tips Mitchell shared was; “Few landscapes do not benefit by having a telephone pole.” Telephone poles are great in landscapes, they add a strong vertical element and several leading off into the distance can add depth to the painting as they draw the eye in.

Mitchell Albala discussing his 4 value painting at the demo and answering questions

Later Mitchell asked where should he, “put the clouds [from the photo] in the painting?” In his book, Mitchell talks about how clouds can add a lot of dimension, and using the clouds in proportion and scale to force distance – always with conscious decision to add to the design.

Mitchell had a 40 minuet Question & Answer period to answer questions about what he did during the demo and on painting in general. A few items I noted were: “Remember that detail must always remain subordinate to the overall value of the painting.” “Your job as an Artist is to select what is important to the painting and what to leave out.” Mitchell also told us that he prefers to use the Fredrix Canvas because he likes the absorbency of the surface and it is ready to use. Mitchell has an entire chapter in his book on choosing a subject, just because you like the subject doesn’t mean it is good for painting, “select your subjects in the right way so it’s not a flat painting.” Mitchell also uses his computer as a tool to assist with painting , Photoshop is a good tool for “shape builders”.

Mitchell Albala signing copies of his book: "Landscape Painting" after the DANIEL SMITH demo

After the demo many of us lined up to have Mitchell sign our copies of his new book: Landscape Painting - got my copy signed! I have found it to be an excellent book (what I have had time to read!) and look forward to following along with his exercises when I have some time to paint again.

It was an excellent demonstration, Thank you Mitchell!

There will be another FREE demo with Mitchell at our Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Art Supply Store, Sunday, April 25th from 12pm to 2pm. Copies of Mitchell’s book: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice“ will be available for purchase AND he will be signing copies after the demo!

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To find out about our FREE Art Demos & Workhop, please visit:

Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store Events Blog

Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store Events Blog

Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

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FREE “How To” Art Demos at DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store: Pastel, Gilding, Plein Air Landscape Painting and Book Signing for January 16th and 17th

Deborah Burns — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:51:09 +0000

DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store: The Store For Artists

This weekends FREE “How To” Art demos at the DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store we have a wide selection Art demos to choose from: Pastel Portraits with Don Lee and Gold Leaf Gilding (Metal Leafing) with Charles Douglas. Sunday we have Landscape painting in Plein Air and the Studio with Gage Instructor and Author Mitchell Albala who will be signing his new book, “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice“ after the demo.

Saturday: Portrait Artist Don Lee will be demonstrating how to do Portraits in Pastel. Don’s demo is a good introduction on getting started with painting portraits in pastels, and to find out if you would like to know more and take his workshop in February.

Saturday, January 16th at 11am & 1:45pm
PASTEL: Pastel Portraits
Don Lee
Don’t miss Don’s Workshop Feb 21st Seattle Store!

Saturday: January 16th we have Gold Leaf Gilding with Charles Douglas. This should be a very interesting introduction on Gold Leafing, and if you have been curious about this or Metal Leafing, then this would be a great demo for you. Charles’ website has lots of information, and his blog “A Gilder’s Journal” is very interesting too. If you can’t come to the demo, we have 2 articles on Metal Leafing that you may be interested in reading: “Metal Leafing the Easy Way“, and “Metallic Leafing Technique” may provide some information for you.

Saturday, January 16th at 12 & 2:45pm
GILDING: Gold Leaf Gilding
Charles Douglas

Sunday: January 17th we have a special demo + book signing opportunity with GAGE Academy of Art Instructor Mitchell Albala who is the author of: “Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice“. Mitchell will be sharing some of his techniques on Plein Air Painting and how it relates to Studio time during the 2 hour demo. His new book will be available at the demo and also in our new catalog (coming soon!). It’s a fantastic book, and looks like one I’ll be adding to my collection!

Sunday, January 17th from 12 to 2pm (Special Time!)
Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice
Mitchell Albala
Have Mitchell sign your copy of his new book during this event!

Come for Fun, Information and Inspiration!

Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

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This Weekends FREE “How To” Art Demos at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store: Watercolor with Jim Adkins and Chinese Sumi Painting with Yuming Zhu

Deborah Burns — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:58:16 +0000

Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store

This upcoming weekend the DANIEL SMITH Bellevue Store will have two FREE “How To” Art Demos, Watercolor and Sumi painting.

Saturday, Jim Adkins will explain perspective and show diagrams of it to help give you a greater understanding on how to use perspective when plein air painting in Watercolor. This is an informative demo that will help with a beneficial foundation whether you paint in watercolors, acrylics, oils, draw or do printmaking. So if perspective is a mystery to you, or if you want a better understanding of it, then this would be a good opportunity for you.

Saturday, August 29th at 11 am & 1:45 pm
WATERCOLOR: Plein Air & Perspective
Jim Adkins

Sunday, Yuming Zhu will be Chinese Sumi Painting when he demonstrates how to paint Autumn Leaves in the Sumi-E style. Last year Yuming was at the Seattle Store for his demo on Sumi: Lotus Breeze which will give you a bit of a pre-view to this coming Sunday’s FREE demo.

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Sunday, August 30th at 12 & 2 pm
CHINESE SUMI PAINTING: Autumn Leaves
Yuming Zhu
ParagonArt.com

Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

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This Weekends FREE “How To” Art Demos at the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store: Watercolor: Plein Air Painting & Perspective and Introduction to Collage

Deborah Burns — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:44:00 +0000

DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store: The Store For Artists

This weekend the DANIEL SMITH Store in Seattle will have two FREE Art Demos in Watercolor and Collage.

Saturday, Jim Adkins, a Northwest Watercolor Society member, will be sharing his tips on How to Plein Air Watercolor Paint. Jim is the contact person for this year’s NWWS Plein Air Summer Painting schedule, and will have lots to share if you are interested in learning more about Plein Air Watercolor Painting.

Saturday, August 22nd at 11 am & 1:45 pm
WATERCOLOR: Plein Air & Perspective
Jim Adkins

Sunday, Bill Armstrong will be demonstrating and orchestrating a special “Hands On” on How to Collage. Come ready to work on doing some Collaging and learning some tips and ideas from Bill with our “Hands On” FREE demo!

Sunday, August 23rd from 12 to 2 pm Hands On!
COLLAGE: Intro to Collage
Bill Armstrong

Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

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Tips on Packing Oil Paint When Traveling by Airplane

Deborah Burns — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:32:51 +0000

Jet Plane flying over DANIEL SMITH to land at nearby Boeing Field

We often get questions on how to pack oil paints when traveling by plane. So in our Seattle Store we have posted a copied page from one of our DANIEL SMITH Catalog articles to help answer the question.

In our DANIEL SMITH Summer Catalog for 2007, Artist Scott Burdick wrote an article with 3 travel scenarios in Packing to Paint where in addition to what to bring to paint with when traveling, he offered some tips for airline travel with Oil Paints.

“Airport Security – I’ve known several artists who have had their materials confiscated by airport security under the mistaken belief that oil paints are flammable. Since putting the following notice in with my paints, I haven’t had any trouble: “the US Department of Transportation defines “flammable liquids’ as those with a flash point of 140 degrees F or below, Artist grade oil colors are based on vegetable oil with a flash point at or above 450 degrees F. THEY ARE NOT HAZARDOUS. If you need to confirm this, please contact TSA at 866-289-9673 or their Hazardous Materials Research Center at 800-467-4922.” “I also include a MSD (Manufacturer Safety Data) sheet from the paint manufacturer….”

Unfortunately, the online article does not include the above paragraph, it was however printed in our 2007 DANIEL SMITH Summer Catalog, so I have included it here directly from the printed page. Click on this link for MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for DANIEL SMITH Original Oils. Of course the even easier point Scott made in the article was that: “I simply pack everything into a box and ship it UPS to the hotel I’ll be staying at avoiding the hassles of checking it on the airplane.” So good advices from Scott Burdick for “Packing with Paint” when “leaving on a Jet Plane” for your Summer Plein Air Painting Adventures!

Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

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Plein Air Painting at Yosemite with Watercolor Artist John Finger and his DANIEL SMITH Pack Chair!

Deborah Burns — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:47:34 +0000

John Finger's Plein Air set up in Yosemite with DANIEL SMITH Pack Chair. Photo courtesy of John Finger at www.johnfinger.net

Yesterday I received a direct message on Twitter from Watercolor Artist John Finger at johnfinger.net sharing his wonderful photo of his Plein Air set up for painting Half Dome in Yosemite with his DANIEL SMITH Pack Chair. John told me that; “I love my DS chair. I’m pretty sure the lizard helps me paint.” [me: *LoL * at that statement!]

John was kind enough to allow me to share it with you all today…so enjoy! Since tomorrow is the First Day of Summer, maybe John’s photo will inspire you to get outside this weekend and do some Plein Air Painting….

Thank you John!

Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

Follow me on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/DANIELSMITH_ART

DANIEL SMITH Pack Chair...you can sort of see the lizard!

PS, If You have a photo that you would like to share of your studio, your palette, worktable, plein air set-up or ? that shows some of our DANIEL SMITH “STUFF” please let me know at deborah.burns.seattle@gmail.com and perhaps I will share it here on our DANIEL SMITH Blog and pass it on with Twitter!

DANIEL SMITHS’ Newest Extra Fine Watercolor Triad: Sand & Surf

Deborah Burns — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:10:13 +0000

DANIEL SMITHS’ Newest Triad…

Recently DANIEL SMITH added a new Watercolor Triad just in time for Summer Watercolor Painting! It’s the Sand & Surf Triad colors chosen by Watercolor Artist Susie Short . It’s official name is: “DANIEL SMITH: Limited Edition Watercolor Triad, Susie Short’s Sand & Surf”.

If you are planning on going to the beach this summer to do some Plein Aire Painting, then you may want to bring this Triad along with you! Either take the Sand & Surf Triad itself, or add one or two of the colors to your collection if you already have either the DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors in Indanthrone Blue , Ultramarine Turquoise, or the Goethite, Brown Ochre, and complete your own Triad!

Susie recently did a FREE demo at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store using mostly this Sand & Surf Triad (click HERE to see) and will be doing another FREE “Sea and Shore” demo this weekend at the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store on Saturday, July 12th at 11am and 1:45pm.

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Originally published July 9, 2008

http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/07/daniel-smiths-newest-watercolor-triad.html

Northwest Watercolor Society Meeting: Plein Aire Painting with Deanne Lemley and Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Plein Aire Painting Display

Deborah Burns — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:06:40 +0000

Last Tuesday, the Northwest Watercolor Society held its’ “4th Tuesday of the month meeting” in Bellevue. Their guest for the evening was Deanne Lemley who gave a demonstration on Plein Aire watercolor painting.

The Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store was also invited to set up a display of Plein Aire art supplies so that NWWS Members could see the wide range of artist materials available to the Plein Aire Artist during the social time before the meeting, and Deanne’s demonstration.

KT, The Bellevue store manager, and artist Che Lopez also of the Bellevue Store, were there to set up the displays and answer questions about all the Plein Aire artist materials. Along with the DANIEL SMITH Plein Aire Painting Supplies, Che brought (to show everyone what he actually uses) his entire personal Plein Aire Painting kit including his Daniel Smith Tripolar Half French Style Easel , Artist’s Tote bag, and three watercolor palettes , one each depending on his mood for that landscape! Two of the most talked about items were the Plein Aire Easel Shelf to add more workspace, and the clamp-on Artist Easel Umbrella to shade out glare while painting.

After the General Membership meeting was the anticipated Plein Aire watercolor painting demonstration by Deanne Lemley. Deanne re-created a Plein Aire watercolor painting while the audience watched. It was amazing to see the painting reveal itself while Danne painted, on the projected screen so everyone in the large audience could see. Deanne Lemley offered many tips on Plein Aire Watercolor Painting while she was working including these two:

“Stop painting when the light moves.”

and

“When you paint from life you see opportunities that

you can never make up.”

This was the last meeting until September. Non-members are welcome to attend these Northwest Watercolor Society meetings to introduce them to what the NWWS is about.

It was a fun and informative evening and many thanks to the members of the Northwest Watercolor Society for inviting DANIEL SMITH to participate!

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Originally published May 29, 2008

http://danielsmithart.blogspot.com/2008/05/last-tuesday-northwest-watercolor.html