Plein Aire Painting of the Bridge Arch at Ellicott City

The Paint it Ellicott City event is one of the most enjoyable things I do all year. You get to go to the romantic and historic old town of Ellicott City, MD and paint pictures of the scenes with other artists. Afterword everybody gets together for a reception and art sale at the Howard County Art Center.

The people of Ellicott City are the nicest people, they are friendly, helpful and understanding.

Many artists create two, three or more pictures each day, but this time I got unusually involved in my projects and finished only two paintings.  One of a street scene, and one of the views of the bridge at the lower end of town.

Paintings done in Plein Aire are spontaneous, fresher, and more robust, which engages the viewer.
Below is the picture of the River Bridge. I worked on it for three days in the afternoon of each day.

To paint it, I climbed down to the river. It was nice and cool there because of the shade. This was a quiet place and easy to concentrate.

In my painting, I wanted to balance the background as viewed through the arch and above it with the foreground. I was careful that the shadows and dark reflections in the water didn't make the picture too dark, this meant spending longer on the background than most people would. The many textures were enjoyable to do and give the painting a lot of life. I liked the balance of the lights and darks.

The crazy thing about the picture is the grey-blue pump tank; you look at it and say, "what is that strange thing in this beautiful place?" But that gives the picture a story or message, that contrasts are all around us, and we need to understand them.

All the colors in this picture are very exciting. My palate changed from one blend of colors to a different one many times. The red of the iron of the bridge is a wonderful color, even though it was hard to mix just right.

Plein Aire Painting of the Arched Bridge at the end of Ellicott City

This painting is still available for sale at my Etsy shop, CLICK HERE to see pricing and information..
You can purchase prints and merchandise like greeting cards at my Society6 store CLICK HERE. to see prints, greeting cards, and more.

I am very happy with the outcome
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Painting of Bridge At Wild Lake Columbia, Plean Aire

I paint Plean Aire (outdoors) in Columbia, MD,  and did this is a painting at Wild Lake by the path that goes up the hill to the tot lot. 

If you are familiar with Wilde Lake, you will know the place that this painting represents. Columbia, MD, has many iconic bridges that cross the many creeks and rivulets. I just love them. They all have the same construction but different environments, which makes each one unique.

Plean Arie Painting of the Bridge at Wild Lake, Columbia, Md. 

I started with a blue underpainting and then worked from the background to the foreground. It needed a lot of adjustment and correction as I worked. Since I was working in acrylic, it was easy to build up layers of paint, which is one of the things I like about my paintings.

It was a beautiful day, and I really enjoyed painting this picture. It has a lot of green, but that is how Wilde Lake looks at this time of year. I liked the strong images of the tree trunks going up and the contrasting images of the path. The texture was a lot of fun to try to get right. I worked on it for too many hours before being happy with it.

One of the nicest things about painting outdoors is all the wonderful people who you get to meet. There were many kind folks walking by who made encouraging comments as I painted.

Painting the Shops Walk, Plein Aire at Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia MD

I enjoy the adventure of painting outdoors and Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia is a beautiful place to paint.

During the summer I want to paint outdoors every weekend and since I live in Columbia MD I can take advantage of the many beautiful paths parks and lakes in the area.

The scenery at Lake Kittamaqundi in downtown Columbia is lovely and there are so many views to choose from. This time, I choose the view of the sidewalk in front of the restaurants that face the lake.  I was inspired by the fountain at the end of the dark shadow cast by the building on one side and the dark trees on the other created a very dramatic scene.

I set up my easel at the bottom of the stairs by the hotels where there is a lot of room and I would be out of the way of people.

 The Restaurant Walk at Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia MD

I started with underpainting blue to get the composition and the values right. My approach is to start with the background and work into the foreground. It is very challenging to paint the architecture at the lake because it is so unique and requires a lot of attention.  One of the things that attracts me to the lake are the divergent lines that seem to go in so many different directions that you do not expect, but I found that I had to correct the picture several times to accommodate the lines.

In the background is the iconic bowl-shaped fountain that the lake is famous for. The red brick sidewalk leads your eye to the fountain.

The foreground turned out to be harder than I anticipated. The orange-red brick of the walkway was a difficult color to mix effectively. Not just because of the technical problems of the color itself but because the greens surrounding it would give contrast so I felt that I had to get it just right. I had to take some license here and there to make sense out of some elements but that is what art is all about. It is an interpretation, an illustration and a story at the same time.

I had to do a little bit of fine-tuning at home to get all the details in so you cannot truly call it a Plean Aire painting but it is still a wonderful painting of the lakefront.
A lot of wonderful people stopped by to say hello and offer encouragement. I am so appreciative of those encounters and hope to see the same new friends in the future.

If you live in Maryland near Columbia, and hou would like to see this painting before you buy it please contact me.

The Fountain at Columbia Town Center, a Challenging Painting

Here is a painting of an iconic scene of the Lake at Downtown Columbia. 

If you know Columbia, MD, you will recognize the fountain. It is two stories tall and shaped like a huge cement bowl. You can walk onto the plaza to the top level and look down at the water below, or go the bottom enjoy another view.

Painting, The Fountain at Columbia Town Center © Adron 2019

If you are in the Columbia, MD area contact me to arrange a viewing before you decide to buy it.

The composition of the picture is insane from an artist point of view. It has a powerful central focus, but the contrasting lines pull your eye into and out of the scene. The handrail leads you in and up from the left and then out across the right, the red brick road guides your eye forward into the picture but halts at the fountain where the downward curve of the bottom leads your eye out again. The background pulls your eyes back and forth across the scene, but you find your eye going down the railing or out the brick.  The white cement steps lead your eyes in and up, then across the three pillars leaving you to drift between the two lamp lights and the fountain spray.

These different lines affect how I would work things like shadows, hues, and values, so this painting kept forcing me to stop and reconsider my steps as I progressed, I felt as if I was constantly starting over, but I was only trying to integrate conflicting elements.

Anyway, it was a fun day to paint. I set my easel up on the lawn to the right of the brick pavement where a tree gave shade, which was nice since it was a hot day. I started with a sketch in blue and then began to put in the background sky. Next, using a large one-inch flat brush, I worked the picture from the top to the bottom to establish the basic shapes and colors of the picture. Over the next three hours, the process of painting the picture was a simple task of working the whole picture over with progressively smaller brushes each time so that details emerged.

When the canvas is blank no one says much, but people stop to look and chat as the painting progresses. A bunch of kids watched and offered advice. They were particularly concerned that the water splash and the flowers on the lamp were postponed since I save the details for the end, but when they were added their approval was extremely gratifying.

The picture was detailed a little more at home where the cool air allowed for the use of a liner brush since dryish tacky paint does not lend to fine lines.

I am very proud of this painting and believe that the fountain a the lake in downtown Columbia will be a theme that I will return to often.

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Adron ©2019