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Bright Breezy and Beautiful Day

What a day!!!The weather for today, after rain and gray and rain, was picture perfect at least until we finished painting. It rained later today but we got'er done. Tim and I sat on Blvd St. in front of the courthouse looking north and east. Tim painted 6th and I painted the old Senger Bldg. looking toward the The Amateur Circus Capital of the World.

Amateur Circus Capital of the World.(bottom left)
A few folks stopped...midway a lady stopped to look at my work which was mid way looking very rough..she looked and said nothing like I had committed abstraction. Oh, well. We had fun...

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

........a river runs thought it..
Today, we stopped at Lost Bridge again as the Eel river  was at a record stage. In the 30 + years I couldn't remember it being that high. Tim and Carolyn painted on the bridge looking down and up river. I couldn't find the mocha brown water that filled the watercourse that exciting..but the tire marks on the road leading to the bridge caught my attention. Apparently somebody didn't like the idea the bridge was closed and turned around and peeled out cranking an armful of gears in the process...This is the road to my old HS where I taught. I can just see a Junior or Sophomore arriving late for school taking the Lost Bridge shortcut and getting stopped dead in their tracks. The sun was out the road a variety of grays and blues and those dark black rubber tread marks. Pink was the only color that would highlight and work with the other colors.

     Tim and Carolyn worked about an hour and a half and were still working when I finished. I walked onto the bridge. Carolyn wasn't too happy with hers but Tim had nailed the scene and was rather satisfied. The first images I took with my phone camera had a finger in the corner of each photo. I had to retake these and edit the color because the lighting had changed. The  probably be a subject we attack again and again but today we are headed into town to tackle the Amateur Circus Capital of the World.

RAINY DAY SATURATED

Cold, Damp Spring.

It's not really conducive to a Plein Air painter's likes, but it's the kind of spring we're having. Friday it's raining and in the lower 50's, so we have to find a place where we will stay dry. Carolyn's went, so there's no painting in the car. We're tired of that anyway. I like for Carolyn to go, also.

 

We drive for awhile and settle in under the awning for the drive-thru of the old American Trust Building. Early spring is only visible in the trees above the buildings and in the rain.

 

Carolyn and I finish our renditions while Spearz is cold and getting rained on. He decides to finish his later. Carolyn's not happy with her work but I'm satisfied with mine. It captures the day pretty well. The picture that Spearz finishes, later, hits it well, too.

 

Monday is dryer but still chilly as we three are out in the country rendering a deserted farm in paints and pastels. If we could only catch a sunny day with bright colors, shadows and blue skies with patchy clouds. But NO! We are all getting good at cloudy, gray days. This is only good for mushrooms!

 

Later!  

JUST AROUND THE CORNER

CAROLYNs
"JUST AROUND THE CORNER"
Tim and I and Carolyn this time..came along to paint with us today. My turn to choose the location. We meaning I drove around the corner from 450 to 400. Tim wanted to paint a filed puddle. By J. Blair's farm was just such a field with a pull off and a series of piddles just as he described.

TIM's
I pulled off the road down a gravel lane which led to a back field.  I set up under the back hatch to keep the direct sunlight off of my paper canvas. When we painted in the car the sunlight was reflected and much less of it affected the color intensity. Now outdoors after along winter painting outdoors changed the color palette we were looking at.

MINE
In the car the palette  was much brighter to make up for the lack of light. Outdoors the palette was less intense since more light was hitting the colors, now. I stated with a prepainted surface using mostly a variety of greens, yellows, and blues which had dried.Carolyn was a "newbie" and didn't know where to start. Tim took her under wing and coached her to start with a sketch. Carolyn can draw and paint but needed encouragement. With little being said we worked at the puddles in the field and the gravel lane. Nearly and hour or more had passed and I felt like I was starting to"dabble" which is clearly and indicator to stop! I'm done I announced. Tim came back, " Yeah I'm almost there too." Carolyn decided she'd quit too. When we stood up and looked a our work for the day all three pieces were a success. That's the payoff. A few hours of out of mind enjoyment and now we were headed to grab a Subway 6" turkey and black forest ham with Jalapeño chips on the side. Is that a fine day or what? Good job, Carolyn. Good job,Tim. Good job,me!

WRIGHTS JUNK YARD A SUBJECT NOT A DESTINATION

Wrights Junkyard became the subject of todays outdoor painting excursion a place to paint  not a destination This is old junk yard has been a place of interest for some time but the last stop was that the "Nays" won. Today was Tim's day to select and after much driving I suggested Wrights. An old blue bus got my attention while Tim took the bigger view of two old yellow school busses and a truck.

This is Tim's The day was somewhat cool but very bright out. The day was good and we enjoyed the company and a Subway.Later a nap is in store for me...Tim? He has to take care of his Higher Ground Farm...chickens can be very demanding.
philandtim, laterrrr.

OVER TROUBLED WATERS

Lost bridge is a story itself and I think I've told the story. The bridge is currently in bad shape...new decking and beams are in order...still the old iron bridge is rusting away...so we decided to paint on the bridge. 


J.O. a teacher where I used to teach joined us. These are his two watercolors. He has done watercolor as long as I have known him. He has reduced the landscape to little more than a calligraphy.

We all worked for about  two hours  on different views. Tim to the west. J.O. to the east and I to the north. No plan, that's just how it worked out. We all have different styles and media/technique. My last watercolors were years ago...acrylic provided the quality I liked in opaque watercolor. So I've stayed with it.

Mine is done with a palette knife on a heavy artist paper. Tim's is pastel on pastel 'toothed' paper that accepts pastel chalks best.This is his below...

Aside from the cold wet weather I painted in the car on the apron of the bridge J.O. and Tim from the bridge center.

Later....

philandtimpaintoutdoors.

2 FER FOR ONE DAY

2 for One Day...slowly gearing up for spring.
That's what this is, for today. I've been feeling like I have a few concrete blocks tied to my waist. Kind of the Jacob Morely thing is going on....I guess as Tim says Spring fever. We went out to Salamonie dam last week and these   are the images 

near the bottom of this post. These two top ones are near Mexico,IN at the elevator. These grain solos fascinate me for some reason. I think it is the repetition of forms. Mine was done over a very dark and bright red- blue under-painting. Tim's has a purple cast. That is the secondary color mixture of blue-red, hmmmmmm.

My wife thinks our work is starting to look the same...style or technique. Maybe thats' because we watch each other's work progress over the last three years that we have been doing this.

I like to use under-painting while Tim does something similar in grounding the whole paper with soft colors which are dominant in the landscape.  I guess that is under-painting as well. So we have been morphing slowly into each other's style.
I guess that's inevitable after all this is philandtimpaintoutdoors see the tow names are run together like our works are becoming. Hey, laterrrrr.....Time for my nap.

AREA 51.....

It was weird ...really weird...It started out normal enough..Tims turn to pick and pay for lunch...where where where...were we going to paint...at the bottom of the street where the balloonist used to live we pulled off and and sized up the RR X-ing...this ought to be interesting. As we worked I could hear Tim complaining. This is whooooa....... terrible.. I said, I know this one is tough. As we worked the weirder and weirder, it felt. This one is my worst I replied...Tim.  I know what you mean..we'll have to miss this one blog,Okay? I don't know. They ought to be able to see the bad days as well. I guess. Let's finish this one and get something to eat...I feel too weird about how I did my pastel..it's really off. Mine too. My color scheme went crazy and it's more like a Christmas tree. It must be this area we are in. Kind of a tear in the universe....You mean like a Area 51 1/2? Yah, just like that.

And this is our next outing a few days later..things sort of settled down and we are back to our normal selves...at least, I think we are. Tim said. Those silos are like skyscrapers...! Well, I replied, this is Corn King country. 
That barn you put in is "day-glow" what's with that? Ahh...., just wanted to use a red  I haven't used yet. Think maybe you could tone it down a tad? Surrrrre. Let's eat. Where to?  I feel like breakfast today, How about Tracks End? Surrrre. We get there, Tim orders the Rail Runner:1/3 lb.hamburger and fries. I'll have the same. Heh, you said you wanted breakfast!!!! I did but that looks goooood. Is that all right....................???   Surrre. Great....... TWO........ Rail Runners!

Happy Birthday, Carolyn! ITS A THREESOME TODAY

Today Carolyn tagged along with Tim and I. We talked her into coming and painting with us. I'm not very good she said. So what, sometimes neither are we. Maybe today well suck. Or maybe we'll knock her out of the park. Tims turn to pick, soooo.... we drive around for awhile and he is getting frustrated. Let's go over to Spring Street again. He heads south of town and heads for S. Boulevard St. This us not Spring St, as you've been calling it. Spring St. is at the bottom of the hill. OK, go to South Boulevard St.

We stop I get out, take a few pictures with my camera and select a spot set up and start drawing. Tim and Carolyn walk by. What are you going to do? We don't know we are just walking up and down deciding. Well, I guess they decided as they set up, up the hill about a hundred feet away sitting on the concrete wall along the street and the hundred foot drop off to Spring St.  We all started in earnest and worked for better of an hour. I felt a spit or two of rain. Great!  I'm about finished anyway. I sign my work and load up the car. I walk up to where they are seated. Is it raining Tim asks? Yup, spitting and it's gotten cooler.

Today's the first time since November we've sat outside and not cramped I'm the car. That's why Carolyn came along today. Well it was her birthday and Tim wanted to take her out. Subway special. He's treats her like a queen.  A vegetarian 12 inch on flathead and jalapeño chips. Happy birthday Carolyn. You had your cake on Wed. She's a day over plenty one, LOL. Next time I'm going to drive the 'Toaster' since we now can 'PhilandTim paint outdoors.' You can come too Carolyn and play the fiddle!!
Laterrrrr.

"The View From Old south Broadway"

"The View From Old south Broadway"

Writing a blog is kind of like being a teacher. Like Spearz, I was trained to teach but never actually taught. And by not working at that occupation, I have a harder time filling the page. Spearz, having taught almost 40 years, has the "teaching-writing gift." He's done a wonderful job these last couple of years keeping you informed. I couldn't have done it!

Monday started out cold and hazy, with the sun peeking through occasionally. It was Spearz' turn to pick the spot. We drove through town towards "Incenerator Hill" but I turned off on Old South Broadway. We found a nice spot overlooking Spring Street and South Peru. Spearz liked it and so did I. "Lets do it it!" Spearz' to the back seat, "Textured forms," he says. Myself, I'm thinking "Impressionism."

It was a quiet car. We were both concentrating to our fullest and the results showed our efforts. About an hour and a half later our pictures are ready to be shared.

Another great day painting and using the other side of the brain. Off to Subway and we'll do it again, Friday!

Later!

Tim

Later!

Phil

COLD,COOL,WARM,COLD,WARM...C'MON...SPRING

THIS is a two-fer.Two outings in one post. I just didn't get to the blog because I am off this week...I am doing only what I want to..Next week I go back to teaching college classes. Today was weird ..my work's starting to look like pastels and Tim's work is getting more painterly. I guess that's because we have been doing this plein-air thing for three years now.  I watch Tim's progress and he watches mine. It's only a matter of time before we start coordinating our styles. I think I also want to keep trying new techniques and approaches to the landscapes. What I think is cool is that we are satisfied with the results...and today we ate for free!!! We went into SUBWAY and it was my turn to buy .  I gave my card to the gal at the register who was visibly upset. Evidently, the system was fouled up because it wouldn't take any plastic. Finally, after a few minutes of waiting, she said , "Oh go ahead, its' free this %$$*&() computer is messed up for the last week." I felt bad for her but free is free. Thank you. Tim's writing the next blog, so I'm off....................................................................................................
for another week!!!! 

SOME DAYS YOU WIN AND SOME DAYS YOU DON"T ...GLAD IT'S ONLY SOME DAYS.

Some days are like opposites...Tim nailed this one and I feel like I really missed the boat...I know you think I'm going to complain about the cramped car and the tight working conditions etc, etc, etc. but I'm not. It's just a fact that Friday is not Monday. Or when we go out to paint, we both are going to make a masterpiece. Not true. This is no story book happy ending. This is about challenges...Tim and I both share the cramped quarters and we both work hard to get a piece of art made but it doesn't happen all the time...what does is the friendship...The chatter in the car about this and that subjects I probably only mention to him. No judgement. We listen and we talk and we paint or work with pastel "pastelling sounds so lame. What I can't bear to think about is that one of us, one day, won't be there. Yup, it's true and that is sobering and rewarding at the same time.We just have today to go out and paint or do pastels...we hope for great results but we add one more page in the philandtimpaintoutdoors memory book we both carry inside. Sorry about being so maudlin but my niece is sick with cancer, people are dying in Libya, and God knows where else people won't see tomorrow.. So I'm going to say THANK YOU GOD for today right now and right here. And that's a  
MASTERPIECE in my book...

And now folks a blog written by none other than Tim of philandtimpaintoutdoors.


"Hi Spearz,

Here it is, and pretty good at that!
Winter's gone, we hope! Anyway its' time for a pinch hit by the other 
half of the PhilandTimPaintOutdoors team. I am Tim of the art Duo.

I picked up Spearz and we headed north out of Mexico, through the country a searchin'. Stopped several times but were stymied by no good place to park.It's still cold enough that we're going to have to stay in 
the car.

After about a half an hour we found this interesting place on a curve with a nice pull-off spot and we decided "this is it."Our results speak for themselves; nice shapes, colors, textures and 
compositions.Lunch at Subway, and another Great Day as PhilAndTimPaintOutdoors
Later!

P.S. I hope this passes the test.
Tim

CLOSED B&K HOTDOG STAND / PHIL AND TIM THAWING OUT

B&K WEINER STAND


Today was a really great day...everything was thawing but still chilly for T-shirts.
We are so glad that winter is on the way of the dinosaur for now...anyway. We decided to 
 town and look for subjects. Tim asked me where I wanted to go. Let's try the Swifty gas station...I've wanted to paint that place. We can park in the B&K parking lot.
Let's check out this one and then the other one on the south side of town. Sure. Off to the south side B&K...let's try here. OK, right over there...sooo... Tim parks under the dripping overhang.
Like a Chinese water torture. A steady dripping  with me in the backseat...Hey, This water makes me want to pee. Tim continues workng with a radio station playing. Nobody, said this was easy.Tim's answer. Ok. On we worked...I'm done, really done...let's go gets something to eat. Subway? Sure. 

9-COUNT ART SHOW INSPIRATION

Winter's losing her grip as the snow melts away.
It's sooooo.. time for this white stuff to move on back up 
to Canada and beyond. The snow goes the way of the
mountains. Down down down to the sea. Oh yeah, the blog. 
We came over to the Nine County Art Show at the 
Honeywell center. It is pretty cool in that many of the works 
were drawings and some nice pastels. There were also some 
really nice oil aitning landscapes done in an impressionist
with a rich palette of turquoise. The winners were some good some not. The judges of these shows is like the judges of Aunt Emma's pie at the 4H fair. Everyone has an opinion.
I think that these pieces were selected based onone person's
opinion. I don't like to show my work anymore in exhibitions because of the politics, the attitudes and above all the fact that I stopped enjoying and feeling about my art work. Tim has helped me on that account as he could care less about accolades.
So we paint and  enjoy each other's friendship and company.
Todays art was on a side street. I did this old carriage house in the changing afternoon light while Tim did the long view down the street.He is very good at this...I think he has a tele-focal cornea...ZZZZZZZ..
out comes his eyeball...ahh the long view!!! Me I have a close-up lens for those details...and arrangement of shapes.Here's todays work...enjoy.

philandtim paintoutdoors..again, if the river don't rise.

ALL I CAN SEE IS WHITE and MORE WHITE

This is going to be a short blog... word-wise...I got behind. The first two pictures are from our day trip to Lewisburg on Monday and the next one is Tim's night picture alone. Then he talked me unto painting after dark this Wed. We left at 6:30 PM with a half an hour to go before it started getting dark. By seven it was dark. We drove around and finally settled for West Main St.in Peru. I'm not a big night painter as the car is small last night was the coldest night of the year so far and I can't see in the car except with a baseball cap fitted with LED's. Not the best light source... but I took the challenge and here they are for what they are worth. The photo is the scene where we painted.

"I'll get caught up and blather on some more next time out."

Later,

philandtimpaintoutdoors

It's a b_tch crammed in the backseat of the car with the windows fogging up and no light to speak of...Maybe next time I'll get it figured out...a light source.