Here, There, In, Out, Away, Home, and the 2013 Carmel Art Festival...

Sometimes what we do as traveling painters boggles my mind. We come together from what is often already a beautiful location in the world, we shake hands, hug, then paint like madmen for a few days before scattering apart like particles from smashed atoms. Only a few days ago I was down in Carmel, California with my fellow painter Anton Pavlenko, in one of the most stunning areas on the West Coast (if not the world) intensely painting with some old friends and making new ones, competing for cash awards and sales, joking, having fun, and eating and drinking together after dark in hidden pubs and eateries. Then getting up in the wee hours of morning and doing it all over again the next day. And finally, frantically polishing up the work and framing it in the back of the Jeep before hanging it on a peg board wall for the moneyed set to collect. Intensity and focus poured into a mere sixteen hours of light.

Then, boom, it is over and we run back to our respective worlds and leave it all behind. Anton and I rocket up I-5 back to Portland, Oregon, out from under the sparkling sun and back into the gray and green. Roos Schuring flies off to Holland and re-emerges on Facebook to send everyone love and kisses and that she is now busy cooking dinner for her two young children. Marc Dalessio and his lovely wife Tina pop back to his new hometown of Zagrev and start answering emails. Carol, Al, and Sergio stay for another day or two to push more paint around but make it back to Petaluma and Santa Rosa, California before I walk in my door. Artists like us are the new peripatetic itinerants. Traveling artist who are quasi-homeless, being hosted in one part of the world before heading off to another, and for the most part we are content to be so. (right: A painting of me painting my ribbon winner at Cypress Point, by Roos Schuring)

It really does boggle my mind. Our predecessors couldn't do this. It would require weeks, if not months, for Church, Bierdstadt, Hill, or Moran to crate their gear up and get to a painting location. It would take days for Constable to load up his rented coach and ride it out of London – as it did for Monet and his crew to head off to southern France. Now everyplace is just a plane flight away. (Okay, in some cases, a plane flight, a ferry, plus some arduous overland traveling, but who can quibble with the point?) Hans Versfeld, Roos' traveling companion and fellow Dutch painter made it home before Anton and I did and he had a 15 hours flight.

Then last night, my wife and I invited some friends over who wanted to hear about my  trip. And view the remainders I brought home. They were the same friends who joined me on my recent trip to Spain and Morocco just to hang out while I painted. And as we were sipping a nice Bordeaux by the fire – yes, I lit a fire because it's been 40 degrees F and pouring rain since I came home! – I casually mentioned I had just signed and faxed off a contract to teach in Tuscany next May. And suddenly, there we all were, leaning in over an atlas on the coffee table, planning another trip. This time to Croatia. Launched from Italy.

Just like that. As if thousands and thousands and thousands of miles mean nothing. 

What a world. So much to paint, so little time...

_______

Here is this year's work from the Carmel Art Festival – I hope you enjoy it:

"Ghosts in the Evening" 17 Mile Drive, Carmel, CA

(A companion piece to "Ghosts in the Morning")

16 x 20 | oil on mounted linen | Sold

"Living on the Edge" Cypress Point, Pt. Lobos, CA

(An Honorable Mention Ribbon Winner)

20 x 24 | oil on mounted linen | Sold

"Going Down to the Beach" Carmel CA

QuickDraw Painting (iPhone snapshot)

12 x 16 | oil on mounted linen | Sold

"Emerald Waters" China Cove, Pt. Lobos, CA

(Roos set up right behind me and as I worked kept shouting: "More paint!")

12 x 16 | oil on mounted linen | Available

"Garrapata Winds" near Big Sur, CA

12 x 16 | oil on mounted linen | Available

"A Crack in the Pinnacle" Pt. Lobos, CA

12 x 9 | oil on mounted linen | Available

"Living in the Edge, Overcast Study" Pt. Lobos, CA

12 x 9 | oil on mounted linen | Available

"Living in the Edge, Sunlight Study" Pt. Lobos, CA

12 x 9 | oil on mounted linen | Available

"Ghosts in the Evening Study" 17 MIle Drive, Carmel CA

12 x 9 | oil on mounted linen

(No photo available; traded to Marc Dalessio)

Disney Artists from the '50s Paint a Tree En Plein Air...

Here is an old and entertaining Disney short about several artists painting the same tree outdoors as a group. Filmed in 1958 for educational purposes, it was something I remember seeing in grade school, and as a young child it made me want to go paint outside early on.

If you are viewing this on Facebook click here to watch on YouTube.

This clip runs a good 15 minutes. If you become bored at the outset jump to the 6:28 mark when the animators head outside to paint outdoors. It's nice to know plein air painting didn't completely disappear during the salad days of Modernism. Modernism may have impacted the plein air genre but it did not kill it.

No matter how far away from Naturalism a Disney movie went, Walt insisted his animators start at the source, which to him was the real world. This makes Walt close kin to the likes of Cezanne, who once said "Nature is the best instructor" and William Merritt Chase, who said, "I don't believe in making pencil sketches and then painting a landscape in your studio. You must be right under the sky."

In fact, Disney Studios has helped train thousands of artists to work directly from life. This video shows why.

Enjoy...

© 1958 Disney Studios | All Rights Reserved.

Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Association announces me as a new Signature Member...

...And I am honored. 

LPAPA is one of the most influential plein air groups on the West Coast and its home turf is smack dab in the place that gave birth in the 1920s to a unique American form of art: California Impressionism. So this is a recognition I am thrilled with and I look forward to both painting more, and teaching down in Southern California as a result.

LPAPA is a great group of painters and supporters, all dedicated to the history, art, and craft of painting outdoors. And I meet many of them at events all across the country. When I do it feels like running into family when you are far from home...

Some photos from the past three years down in SoCal, all shot during a Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational...

My first quickdraw at the Montage...

Another QuickDraw, of the Rock Pile, a local surfing spot right under the Laguna Art Museum...

Ah, the light. The tides are coming in and the light is sinking...

Attempting a small scale William Wendt up in Laguna Canyon, as if there ever was such a thing...

More painting below the art museum...

Crystal Cove paint out - up on the table to get a better view and discourage distractions...

The best day ever at the office, painting the Keyhole - had a fever of 103 F as I painted this...

More painting on rocks...

Another Rock Pile painting...

Painting at San Juan Capistrano Mission, the old sanctuary which collapsed back in the late 1800s.

(If this video doesn't load for you FB'ers, visit http://www.thomaskitts.com)

And out painting the sunset at Corona del Mar, the light being the reason to travel south...

Thanks LPAPA. These are awesome memories for me!

In the News: Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot...

I was just interviewed regarding the painting I donated to LPAPA'a "Canvas for a Cause" fund raiser today by a Southern California newspaper, an affiliate of the LA Times...

The article is now online and the print version goes out tomorrow. The reporter who interviewed me was nice, on the ball, and asked excellent questions about plein air paintings and the upcoming event. I was impressed.

You can read the article here:

http://www.coastlinepilot.com/news/tn-cpt-0503-plein-air-laguna-20130501,0,1861397.story

Or if that link goes dead in the future you can read about it here:

http://archive.is/FnsrH

Or simply click on the image below and get out your magnifying glass...

Happy painting!

Canvas for a Cause: Collect Fine Original Art from Some of the Best Plein Air Painters in the USA...

To my dedicate Southern California Collectors...

The Adobe Garden | Mission San Juan Capistrano

16 x 20 | oil on panel 2011- 2012

I have donated a significant, framed 16 x 20 inch painting of the Mission San Juan Capistrano to the LPAPA fund-raiser you find below. It is your opportunity to collect a nice piece of historical SoCal and support a great art organization at the same time.

I painted it during the 2011 Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational and re-worked it significantly in the studio last month. So it is a rare and very developed piece, once carefully constructed to flicker with color when hung under indoor light, I hope you'll come out to the auction to consider it. And of course, if not this painting, then one from the incredible line-up of other artists you find below. Heck, if I didn't already have a conflict I'd bring my own checkbook as the bidding will all start low and you couldn't possibly find work of this caliber anywhere else.

I'll be returning to the Laguna Beach Invitation again in October 2013. I hope to see you all again when I do!

Thomas

http://www.lpapa.org/auction/auction.html

PRESENTS "CANVAS FOR A CAUSE" SILENT AUCTION FUNDRAISER MAY 4, 2013   5pm - 8 pm Wine & Cheese Reception WOMAN'S CLUB OF LAGUNA BEACH                                   Details of Event 40 of LPAPA's artists have contributed framed masterpieces for a unique silent auction - all opening bids to start at $350. - Silent Auction Bidding starts at 5:30 pm Section A closes at 6:30pm Section B closes at 7:00 pm Section C closes at 7:30 pm You are being invited to join us for some wine, cheese, and the opportunity to take home one of these remarkable works of art ! PARTICIPATING ARTISTS Daniel Aldana - Michael Alten - Ebrahim Amin - Ken Auster Pierre Bouret - John Burton - Judith Cameron - Hui Lai Chong Rick Delanty - Mark Fehlman - Kay Flierl - Susan Gordinier Carolyn Hesse-Low - Jeff Horn - Debra Huse - Thomas Jefferson Kitts Paul Kratter - Greg LaRock - Calvin Liang - Kim Lordier Viv McCord - Erich Neubert - Michael Obermeyer - Rita Pacheco Jesse Powell - Jenifer Prince - April Raber - Peggi Kroll-Roberts   Ray Roberts - Pauline Roche - Grace Schlesier - Jeff Sewell Randall Sexton - Jason Situ - Michael Situ - Doug Stotts Bryan Mark Taylor - Kim Van DerHoek - Wendy Wirth Jim Wodark - Jeff Yeomans  100% of Proceeds Support LPAPA's Programs (Community Outreach, Educational/Mentorship, Scholarships, etc.) Woman's Club of Laguna Beach 286 St Ann's Drive Laguna Beach, CA 92651 LAGUNA PLEIN AIR PAINTERS ASSOCIATION A non-profit organization was founded in 1996 to assist artists  by bringing them information and opportunities for advancement.  LPAPA, with a membership of over 300, maintains a strong presence  for plein air painting in the contemporary world of art. For more information about this event go to: www.lpapa.org  or contact LPAPA Executive Director, Rosemary Swimm 949-376-3635 info@lpapa.org  Be sure and mark your calendars you don't want to miss this! VIEW THE PAINTINGS!

Renoir Actually Painting... (1915)

(Click if you can't play the video here)

Someday I would like an assistant to hand me my brushes too.

Enjoy,

Thomas

Coming Home...

...From the Plein Air Convention in Monterey and a fantastic three day workshop in Carmel. It will be good to hit the sheets tonight.

More to come...

My ride to the Plein Air Convention...

Ha!

Bryan Mark Taylor and his new Strada Plein Air Easel...

The well-known Californian plein air painter Bryan Mark Taylor has been working on a new kind of outdoor easel for the past two years. When he shared an early prototype with me back in 2011 he said his intention was to create something that would be bomb-proof. That caught my attention because I’d just had a French easel collapse on me in the field during a competition. Bryan has been hard at work since then, sharing a few developmental steps along the way, and now his easel is in production and available for purchase.

He calls his easel the “Strada”. It is aptly named because in Italian strada means “road or passage way”, and Bryan’s goal was to invent a new way to paint en plein air.

Bryan is a professional plein air artist himself so he is intimate with the highs and lows of painting outdoors. At a competitive plein air event he may set up and tear down his easel five or six times a day. So to him, ease of use is a high priority.

Last month Bryan called to tell me the Strada was shipping I said “Great, when could I see one?” He told me one was already on the way and asked if I would give it a try and post a review. Since I am always interested in painting gear I agreed. 

Disclaimer: Bryan and I are painting friends. While I am happy to talk about the Strada I want to state I have no connection to the easel. (Aside from being offered one to try out.) I have been using with the Strada for almost four weeks now and believe I can discuss the pros and cons of it in a fair and objective way.

What the Strada should be compared against:

There are essentially three kinds of plein air easels in production today: the classic wooden French easel which originated during the mid-19th century, and its modern day counterpart, the Soltek; the Gloucester easel, which became de rigueur for seascape painters on the East Coast during the early 20th century; and the relatively new lightweight pochade box that can be attached to a tripod. The Strada falls into the pochade box category, which includes the Open Box M, the Easy-L, the Alla Prima Pochade Box, and the Guerrilla Box. (I have painted with all of these easels at some point but currently use the Open Box M.)

No single easel design is perfect for every situation – so having a new option for outdoor painters is a boon. And yes, the Strada offers a unique and interesting spin to the pochade category.

Build Quality:

The Strada is made entirely out of aluminum and this permits it to be trim and functional and impervious to effects of humidity and moisture; two things which can trouble any wooden easel. The Strada’s shell and weld-joints appear quite solid and the entire surface is coated with a pleasant medium value gray. It feels like you could drop it without deforming the shape so I believe the Strada could survive multiple blow-downs in the field. But honestly, I didn’t actually push it over to find out.

Besides the pachode box itself, the Strada comes with a interior plexiglass mixing area and a S-hook you can use to hang a can of solvent on. You can also purchase one or two side shelves to lay your painting gear out on, or to provide additional mixing area in a pinch. Bryan is keeping the price for a shelf modest.

Setting up the Strada in the field:

Bryan’s primary objective was to make setting up and tearing down up as quick and easy as possible and he succeeds at it. The defining characteristic of any clamshell design is it opens up like – well, a clam – and until now, all the easels in this category use a combination of hinges, slotted sliding bars, and knobs to fix the painting support open. The Strada cleverly reduces the hardware down to two friction hinges that hold the painting support open. So there is nothing to slide, adjust, or tighten down once you open the lid. You simply pull out the latch, flip open the lid, insert a canvas, and start pushing the paint around. It can’t get more quick than that. It works like a laptop. The lid, which supports your canvas, has a full 180º range of movement so you can set it at any angle you like.

When you are done with your painting you pull it off and close the lid. Then, you stuff the Strada into a backpack or roller bag with the rest of your gear and move on.

If you pair the Strada with a professional-grade tripod and quick release plate the combination is almost as stable as any high-end pochade design I’ve used. Almost. There is a little wiggle you'll have to live with if you like the convenience of the easy open hinges. The friction hinges on the Strada are spec’ed to a 20,000x life cycle and Bryan tells me he will replace them without cost if they should prematurely fail. In other words, if you open and close your Strada five times a day, every day of the year, the hinges are rated to last almost eleven years.

There are some design nigglies to be aware of. The primary one has to do with what kind of support you like to paint on. The Strada canvas/panel support rails accepts 3/4 or 1 inch stretcher bars and panels that range from 1/8 to 3/8 in thickness. You can insert a thinner panel – say one of the Raymar Featherlites™ – but if you do you’ll need to double up the panels to fill the gap. Bryan tells me the easel is now shipping with a couple of #8/32 locking nuts which can be used to reduce the gap on the pins and thus will hold a standard panel more firmly. I didn’t have them for my testing but will stop by a hardware store and pick some up this weekend.

The Strada’s painting support holds a canvas or panel along the top and bottom using a sliding t-bar and friction based compression. When my easel arrived there wasn’t enough resistance in the slot to grip a panel tightly so Bryan told me to bend the T-bar slightly to increase the friction. This fixed the issue. (Bryan also tells me the easels are now being shipped with the T-bar pre-bent.) The lower rail can be raised to accommodate a tiny painting or to lift a larger one away from the mixing area. Both the upper and lower rails have integrated pins to hold a panel in place, and if you prefer to paint on stretched canvas there are lips which hold it against the back as well. Unfortunately, the bottom lip can interfere with painting along the lower edge of a panel so I may grind it off. I rarely paint on stretched canvas anyway. A nice touch would be for Bryan to offer an second lower rail without the lip. Then the rails could be swapped out as needed.

Bryan has reduced every elements of the Strada down to its simplest form possible and many elements serve multiple functions. For example, the sliding T-bar not only works as a latch to hold the easel shut it also serves as the top rail to hold your painting while you work. And when the easel is closed the top and bottom rails hold the plexiglass palette in place as you carry it around. So packing up and moving to a new location is easy. Just shut the lid and go.

As a bonus, the Strada can be placed on your thighs like a laptop, or set on a flat surface without a tripod. Definitely a bonus for anyone who wants to travel without a bulky tripod. 

Holding a painting support:

Fancy bells and whistles are very nice but the primary duty of an easel is to hold a painting steady at a comfortable height.  While there is no limit to how wide a canvas the Strada will hold (theoretically) there is a practical limit to the height it can hold, and it runs a little beyond 16 inches or so. You can insert a taller canvas or panel if you wish but the compression of the top rail will begin to loosen and you may experience some rocking as you paint. I don’t view the 16 inches as a limit specific to the Strada because every pochade box of this size I’ve used has a similar height or width restriction and anyone who wants to paint larger in the field should immediately skip to the French or Gloucester easel. Bottom line: if you don't paint more than 16 inches vertically in the field the Strada is an option to consider.

My one serious complaint has to do with the top rail. I often paint in direct sunlight without an umbrella. So the top rail can cast a shadow across your painting if the angle is right. This won't be an issue for those who prefer to paint on a canvas, but since I don’t I’ll likely grind off the offending projection and reserve the Strada for panels only.

The mixing area and palette:

Every pochade box design has one advantage over the French and Gloucester easels, and it is the convenience of mixing your colors directly underneath your painting. That is one of the reasons I prefer them in general. I dislike bending over a palette at my waist, or constantly nodding up and down as I work. It turns out my spine doesn’t like it either. So if your back has been troubling you consider switching to a pochade box design. Any model will alleviate the pain.

Due to it’s efficient design, the Strada’s mixing area is 14 x 16 inches. But if you are used to placing your piles of paint along the top edge of your palette you’ll need to readjust to laying them down along the sides. Otherwise you may gum up the hinges in short order. This doesn’t strike me as much of a concern and I expect to quickly readjust.

The Strada ships with a white plexiglass sheet to mix on. The expectation is that you will leave it in the lower pan. You might like mixing on plexiglass, but I don’t like doing so. It scratches easily. So I’ll either replace it with custom cut piece of tempered glass caulked into place or simply pull the plexiglass out and mix directly on the bottom of the pan. (I’ll probably go with the glass since I prefer to use a razor blade to scrape areas clean as I work.) If I decide to mix directly on the bottom of the pan there will be a few protrusions to contend with – one being the threaded tripod mount in the center – but if you’ve ever seen one of my other palettes you’ll understand that bumps and knots of dried paint don’t concern me. What you decide to do about Strada’s mixing area will be up to you.

Summary:

As I mentioned at the outset, there are basically three kinds of plein air easels, with some version being well thought out and built to solid specs – and others rickety pieces of crap aimed at the unsuspecting newbie. In my experience the best solutions focus on simplicity and durability. The Strada is the first spin on the clamshell pochade box design I’ve seen in a while that offers something new. The friction hinges are a real convenience and the substantial aluminum construction is another. The Strada may not appeal to the most romantic of souls – the plein air painter who weeps for being born a century too late – but it should appeal to the practical outdoor artist who wants a no-nonsense bomb-proof solution. This easel was designed and brought to market by a seasoned pro and I believe it has a great future.

The Strada will be the easel I take when I want to travel fast and light and plan to paint at small sizes. It will be good to have on a backcountry trek, or when I expect my gear to take a beating from a pack mules or a rough stretch of whitewater. Or from those ubiquitous TSA luggage monkeys who like to play a game of ring-toss with my duffle bags after the airplane lands.

Pros: Fast and simple to set up and tear down. A trim form that provides a generous mixing area for the size. Solid build quality. Feels good to use. When closed, reduces air flow into the mixing area, which is good because it slows the drying of paint left on the palette. Ideal for rough travel.

Cons: Somewhat finicky with thin or large panel supports. Some wiggle. Plexiglass mixing area. Top rail can cast a distracting shadow in direct sunlight. Lower rail can interfere with brushwork along bottom edge.

Price: $299, as of April 2013

For more information and where to buy: http://www.stradaeasel.com

OMG! It's a Flash Mob Rembrandt!...

( Click here if you can't view this clip via Facebook... )

And oh yes, the original...

Ha!