Anchor It Down

In the past I have seen people that have tried plein air painting and have had a bad experience during their paint out and not return to plein air painting. I have heard a lot of reasons a painter might feel uncomfortable outdoors like it's too hot, too cold, too buggy etc. Any one of these reasons could be why a new outdoor painter will not return to the great outdoors. An outdoor painter needs to be prepared for any situation that arises during the outing. 

One of the unfortunate situations that I have seen, is when the wind picks up while someone is painting and knocks their set-up down. Depending on the size of canvas and the type of easel being used; a wet canvas and the easel can go flying to the ground in no time. This is why I always bring my exercise ankle weights to my paint outs. I don't bring them out of my bag unless I feel the wind is going to be a problem. I am assured that my easel, pallet, and painting will not fall flat on its face if I have it anchored down with my weights.

Being well prepared for the outing will make the painting experience a more enjoyable one as apposed to a nightmare. Now, let's be prepared and Let's Paint!

During windy days I put one aprox. 5 lb. anckle weight on the back side of my French easel.

I also put another 5 lb. anckle weight on the front single leg of my French easel.

Recycled Kitchen Drawers

When we remodeled our kitchen, I saw an opportunity to recycle two old drawers from the kitchen. The boxes were in pretty good shape that it was a shame to throw them out. I said to myself; I can use these! Could this be the symptoms of a hoarder? Never mind that. That's for another story. I took the boxes and sanded them down. My wife helped me prime and paint them that beautiful color brown that I am crazy about. Must be the earth tones from my pallet.

After the boxes were painted and dry, they were ready to go on the road with me. You see these boxes were just the right size for my small prints that people love to buy. They even have the original handle on them for easy carrying. The boxes were finished with my website address on both sides in a nice tan color of course. I don't even need to unpack these boxes when I return home from an art event. The prints just stay right in the box and are always ready to go to the next show. Now Let's Paint!

Here I am sanding the boxes and trying out a print.

My wife Terry lending a helping hand.

Customers looking at my prints while I paint.

Acrylic Texture

When my acrylic paintings are being admired by art lovers, they usually mistake them for oils. The number one reason for my paintings looking like oils is because of the way I mix my paints, the colors I use and the additives I use. I for one do not use any retarders/extenders with my acrylics to try to slow down the drying. I simply use water and I add a gel to my paints. The water keeps the paints from drying too fast and the gel adds extra body to the paints to achieve texture in my paintings. I add about 1 part paint to 1/2 part gel ratio to the paint being used. If I want extra texture then I just add more gel. Now let's paint!

Acrylic Gloss Gel on Acrylic Paint

Close up of a corner of one of my pantings

Happy New Year!

What better way to start off my 2012 blogs than to show a video clip of the Ocala Plein Air Painters in the trenches. Actually, it is a compilation of pictures from our past paint outs. The Ocala Plein Air Painters get together the first saturday of the month for a morning paint out at different locations throughout Central Florida and paint from life. After our morning painting session we get together for lunch and have good conversation. Anyone wanting to paint with our group is more than welcome to come along. Simply visit Ocala Plein Air Painters website and visit our paint outs page. Hope you enjoy watching this video as we sling paint on our canvases. Now Let's Paint!

Original Art for the Holidays

Give the gift of art by buying original paintings from renowned artists of The International Plein Air Painters. What better way to express your love to someone than by giving them a gift that lasts for a lifetime? Visit the online painting exhibit of various styles and mediums from professional artists.

Click Here to visit the Exhibit.

The Art of Healing

Local Plein Air Painters and myself were mentoring a few nurses of the Munroe Regional Medical Center of Ocala in a project called The Art of Healing. This is the second time I participated in this event which took place at Sholom Park. It was a beautiful sunny but cool November day. The day started out with breakfast, then painting and ended with a scrumptious lunch. I had a good time sharing what I know about plein air painting. The nurses seem to have a good time as well with the hands on instruction. Jessica S. W. McCune an R.N. of the Hospital is the person that put this whole thing together. Among the professional painters that participated were Peggy Watts, Carole Lopez, John Breen, Nancy Moskovitz, Milly Sheffer and Diana Crow just to mention a few. The nurses walked away with beautiful landscape paintings and a better understanding of what Plein Air Painting is. I was glad to participate in this event once again, and am looking forward to the next one. Now Let's Paint!

Here I am with Linda.

John Breen giving instructions.

Sell Yourself

When the occasion allows me to take small finished paintings to a location, I will do just that. If I can pull my car in close to the area I am going to paint at, I just simply unload my gear and park the car later. I try to travel as light as possible at a paint out as to make my trip to my location easy. I always take note cards for sale to every paint out just in case I run into art lovers that happen to stop by and admire my artwork. Besides a good conversation with my visitors I am also handing out my business cards and explaining the process of en plein air. The sale of note cards is always a good way for customers to not only have your paintings in print form, but the fact that they will be sending your cards to friends and family. There is a description of the paintings on the card and my web site address on the back side. I also promote my web site address with two small signs that I hang on the sides of my easel for those shy art lovers that like to watch from a distance. The signs that I made fit perfectly in the easel when I am not using it. The more you try to get your name out there the more people will remember you and your trade. I don't know how many times I've heard people say "rodriguezart.com" that's easy to remember. Now Let's Paint!

My note cards fit perfectly in my easel.

Painting at the Withlacoochee River while customers look through my browse box.

Here I am painting at Rainbow Springs March 5th with the Ocala Plein Air Painters.

16x20 acrylics on canvas.

Italian Mural

Here is the mural I painted recently. Unlike the last two murals that were painted on a smooth surface, this mural was painted on a wall that had a knock down surface. This texture is similar to Spanish-style stucco. It is a little harder to paint detail work, however I was in luck that the finished look was to have a very painterly style. The subject did not have very much detail so right after I chalked 1 foot square grids for an 4'x8' area, I proceeded to draw with a small brush. After drawing in the big shapes I dusted off the chalk grid as I painted in the same manner I use when painting outdoors "en plein air". I wanted the mural to fade out to the color of the wall so I feathered out the edges. Not all walls can be treated equal in the field of mural painting so muralists need to be prepared to paint on many types of surfaces. Now let's paint!

Here I snapped chalk lines every foot.

Here I drew the main shapes with a small brush.

Here I am filling in some minor details.

The finished mural.

New Years Eve

Just before Christmas I finished another wall mural that I will be posting up soon so stay tuned. I wanted to share with you my new years eve project. I was painting or should I say touching up our purple martin decoys. That's right I have a couple of fake purple martin birds perching on their houses. They were a little dull from being up there last year and needed a fresh coat of paint. Also, to add to the mix we play a cd in the back yard with the sounds of purple martins. My neighbors just love the sounds of purple martins on repeat. ;-) I am trying to raise the odds of attracting martins this spring. I sure hope this is the year, and trust me if we don't succeed it's not for lack of trying. Keep your fingers crossed.

Purple Martin decoy.

Besides having a passion for drawing, painting, and photography; I also have a passion for playing an acoustic guitar. I spent new years eve with my wife Terry and playing the guitar with my friend The Legendary Barbara Beam www.barbarabeam.com

Well most of the time I was trying to keep up with her, but all in all we had a good time. It was fun playing next to a warm heater surrounded by X-Mas lights that made the whole evening special. Happy New Years!

Having fun strumming.

Wildlife Habitat

It is known that bats tend to migrate south for the winter and return to their roosts during the spring season. My wife and I are so excited to know that more than half of our colony of bats decided to stay in their bat house for the winter this year. They are officially in hibernation mode. I took a sneak peek early one morning, around 6 am with a flash light. This is something I would not recommend due to possibly disturbing them during their nap, however I just had to know if they migrated or not. It's going to be a good year for bats next spring. Now if only I could get those purple martins to occupy their houses this spring. My wife and I would have fulfilled our backyard wildlife habitat goal. :-)

Our bat houses where approx. 200 bats roosted last summer.

Vacancy!

Belleview Art Festival

The Belleview Art Club held a Belleview Art Festival on Nov. 13th around Lake Lillian Park. Sorry for the late post. It was a beautiful cool, sunny Saturday. The festival had local artist from around Marion County, food vendors, music played by an orchestra and raffle tickets for art items were sold during the event. I set up my small tent with my portable display easels and I had a browse box with small matted prints and note cards on sale. It was good to have people stop by my tent to see my plein air paintings and to discuss the process of painting. I was also very happy to have taken 1st place for one of my paintings during this event. Now that the winter is here I am indoors working on another wall mural. I will post the mural project once I have painted the last brush stroke. Happy Holidays!

Art in the Garden

There is a new piece of art that has been added to the Rodriguez garden that might have others cringe or find kind of odd. Unlike the other statues in our garden that are of the classical Italian decor, this particular piece of art has a special purpose for its significance to our backyard. You see this piece of art has a couple of jobs to attend to while standing at his post. Besides his usual duties of scaring off any evil and harmful spirits that may enter our domain, he is also the gatekeeper to our hundreds of bats that come out to play at night from our nearby bat houses. I know, I know that cringe thing again. My wife and I enjoy our new addition and we love sharing him with our friends and family. There is a side of me that embraces the gothic world and I enjoy painting it from time to time. I'm just glad that my wife Terry can see the good in it also. Now Let's Paint!

Painting at Sholom Park

I had a wonderful morning painting with my friends of the Ocala Plein Air Painters this past Saturday. The weather could not have been any better. I arrived a little later than I usually get at a painting location. Our group had planned to get together for lunch at a nearby restaurant after our paint out so I had to get moving with my subject. I wanted to keep my painting simple due to the time factor. A lone tree in a field of green caught my eye. I immediately set up my gear and started flinging acrylic paint. I finished around 11:45 ready to have some good conversation with my friends. I hope I can get to our next paint out location on time so as to not start out in a rush on a beautiful morning. Take you time and enjoy our beautiful surroundings. Soak up the autumn morning sun, the birds singing and the cool breeze touching your face. I hope to show up early next month when our group meets to paint in downtown Historic Micanopy. Now Let's Paint!

16"x20" Acrylics on Canvas

Ocala Plein Air Painters

Mural, Mural on the Wall

This summer I had another opportunity to paint a large mural. This was a 10'x10' mural project in the front entryway of a beautiful two story home. Cypress wood was used throughout this beautiful home ie; large cypress tree trunks as columns, exposed cypress ceiling beams, large cypress steps leading to the upstairs and so much more. The mural was a scene from pictures I had taken of the Silver River in Ocala, Florida. My client wanted me to incorporate a gator, herron, and turtles in their mural even though they are not seen in these pictures. It was good to paint a large mural again.

On another note, in the past blog, I had mentioned how my studio was occupied with house furniture due to a flood in our house. I am very glad to say that my studio is back to normal again instead of a storage place. So it's time again for Jose to start painting in his studio. Now let's paint!

Here I am on my walking stage between two ladders.

Notice the guides on the wall and the image I used for reference.

The finished mural.

Out of Commission

Wow! it has been one hell of a winter and spring for me. I have been out of commission for about three months now. At least out of commission from my studio works.

My studio work came to a stop this past winter which has been one of the coldest winters in my 20 yrs. in Florida. To put things in perspective, it all started when one of our water pipes in the house busted and flooded 4 of our rooms, including hallways. The majority of the rooms had carpeting which all had to be replaced. Our homeowners insurance helped with some of the expenses. It's a very long story so I am trying to keep this short.

All our furniture had to be moved into my studio, hence the out of commission from studio work. This turn in my life however did not keep me from painting outdoors once a month with my group OPAP (Ocala Plein Air Painters). Thank goodness I could still swing a brush to keep my painting skills sharp.

It has been a long three months of major repairs in my home with everyday and weekends devoted to repairing our home. My wife and I are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait to get my studio back in order to start painting, blogging and spending quality time with my friends and family. Now, Let's paint!

That would be my studio. You can see my wall easel in the very back.

Double Vision

In an earlier blog I talked about painting two panels side by side. I decided to share this painting project as well. This project was a couple of hand painted signs for the Hilton of Ocala.

I usually do not like to paint the same painting twice. I find it very boring to repeat the same subject over and over. If painting the subject twice wasn't bad enough, I had to paint the same exact painting about 20 feet up on the front entrance of the Hilton building. This time the painting was about a 5'Hx10'W mural.

The two smaller paintings were resting on my makeshift easel. I had them very close together so as I painted a particular area on one, I would immediately do the same to the other. It was a scene to see me go from side to side like a large digital printer, only it was just me flinging around a brush and paint.

These signs were to be installed outdoors in an entry driveway of the Hilton, so I used a high gloss outdoor enamel sign paint. After the paintings were fully dry I sprayed them down with a clear finish for added protection.

Even though I do not like to paint the same exact subject over and over again, sometimes one needs to bite the bullet and do what is necessary in order to pay those pesky bills. Now let's paint!

Paintings in Progress

This is kind of a funny story looking back at it now. For the most part I like to choose my subjects for my paintings. My wife always says Jose does what Jose wants to do and when he wants to do it. Which brings me to this story.

My wife and I have always wanted to finish an area on our back patio. Well, the visit of my sister-in-law and her husband during the holidays motivated us to finally do something about it. Family visits always have a way of pushing one to finish a long overdue project. I only had three days to finish two 4'x2' vertical paintings and have them hung up by the time our guests showed which was supposed to be on the fourth day.

Not being the type of artist that likes to paint for decor purposes, this was that type of project commissioned to me by my lovely wife Terry. Terry wanted the paintings to tie in with our backyard which is a beautiful lush garden that is hard to describe without one actually seeing it to appreciate it. It was also to match with the blue color theme that she had going in this area; hence the decor part.

The paintings are a project continuation from the article I posted earlier about blending a background. Keep in mind I had three days alloted and I usually do not paint for more than three hours per session; 4 hrs tops. I had plenty of time for the scene in my mind. I painted the background one evening. The next day I started the painting in the afternoon. I figured I would finish on the third day if I worked all day. Not!

As I was painting on the last day alloted and I think I was 3/4 of the way done with the painting, the phone rings. Guess who is showing in about an hour. You see our guests decided to drive through and show up a day earlier than scheduled and surprise us. Ahhhh! But I'm not finished! The panic fills the air. Working quickly, I slap some paint here and there, and then the edges because it is a gallery wrap canvas and would look silly if the paint did not continue on the sides.

I told my wife I would need to finish it at a later date and proceeded to hang the paintings. As we were hanging the paintings the edges where still wet enough to come off on my hands as we hung them. I was working in acrylics as usual so you can imagine how quickly I took them off my wall easel. It was a stressful time but looking back, it seems kind of funny now. I still have hours left to finish the paintings because the paintings are still missing more foliage, highlights and blue tinted birds of paradise flowers to match the blue theme. So in essence the patio project I have procrastinated on for some time now is still not completely finished. Well, it's back to the studio for final brush strokes. Now let's paint!

Blending a Background

I wanted to show a gradient of color as a background on my latest painting project. Blending large areas with acrylics is not an easy task to accomplish. The acrylics unlike oils like to dry fast which leads to possible un-uniform or a poor gradual transition from one color to the next.

When I want to cover a large area I make sure I have plenty of paint mixed up so as not to run out and then try to re-mix more paint and not have the exact combination to match the earlier mixture. Painting a gradual transition on a smaller canvas is a lot simpler than a larger canvas such as a 24"x48" which is the case in this project.

In order to make my transition of color look smooth, I mix three different mixes of the same color. By this I mean I would take the original mix, only this time I would add some white to lighten it up. This would give me my middle tone. Then I would take that combination and make an even lighter mix and that would give me my high tone "lightest value". So in essence I have three different swatches of paint on my palette, once again a step not needed when it comes to a smaller canvases.

I was working on two panels at the same time in order to maintain consistency because these panels are to be placed almost side by side so I wanted it to look uniformed. I placed both canvases on a table only because these were gallery wrap canvases and I wanted to get the edges at the same time. Working quickly, I stated at one end "bottom" with my darker color painting towards the center; once close to the center of the canvas I added the mid-tone and blended the two colors together. Making sure my brush was clean I added the lighter mix and blended it with the mid-tone, then continued to paint to the end of the canvas "top" with the lightest color.

24"x48" gallery wrap canvases painted on a table.

24"x48" canvases on my wall easel ready for paint.

One thing to remember is that you have to make sure you have a clean brush for the purest color areas. If you happen to also know how to use an air brush, this is an alternative way. What can I say, I got lazy and did not want to set up my guns, let alone the clean up work. You might want to have an extra brush or two for the blending areas. I always went back and quickly cleaned my brush. With practice and a no fear attitude of making a mistake you too can blend your backgrounds with acrylic paints. Now let's paint!

A Good Rule

A good composition always makes a painting or photograph a more interesting piece of artwork. Besides the subject and colors being used, composition plays a big role in the project. An easy rule to follow for a good composition is to use "The Rule of Thirds." This is an easy rule or guide to follow without getting hung up on the mathematical formulas of the Golden Ratio, aka the Golden Mean, The Divine Proportion, and I'm sure there are others. For many years, designers, photographers, videographers and painters have been using the rule of thirds for good compositions of their work/designs. Please keep in mind this is just one type of compositional technique that can be used. There are others such as formal balance, and the imbalanced. The rule of thirds technique is an informal balance composition from which I prefer to use.

The rule of thirds is the process of dividing your canvas or whatever support you may be using into thirds. Divide your support into thirds with two imaginary vertical and horizontal lines on your support. Anywhere the imaginary lines intersect is the location your main center of interest should be placed or at least close enough to it. During the design phase it's always a good idea to look for pointers that will help lead the viewers eyes to the center of interest. It could be a tree line, path, tree branch, shadows or if your subject is something other than a landscape, try to arrange elements to point the viewer to your center of interest ie; drapery, edges of furniture, wall, chair, etc. You do not have to paint everything that you see out there either. Use your creative license to add or subtract elements in order to make your painting an overall better composition.

When I am taking pictures for possible studio works I also use the rule of thirds while taking the photographs. As I am looking through my viewfinder of the camera I will turn the camera vertical and horizontal, zoom in, and out if needed in order to look for a good composition while using the rule of thirds technique. This saves a step in the design process later when you are looking through photos for possible painting subjects. You can still use this technique with older pictures by doing some cropping in the photographs. So, the next time you are designing your next masterpiece, keep the rule of thirds in mind for a better composition. Now let's paint!

Mixing Colors

Mixing colors on my pallet is not the only place I apply this process, I also mix my paints directly on the canvas, pushing two colors together in order to create a third or even fourth color. I usually pick up a dab of paint from my pallet, make a brush stroke on my canvas, go back to my pallet and pick up another color and mix it in with the previous stroke on my canvas. I will continue to push the paint around till I get what I was looking for. Try to keep in mind not to over mix the colors because then you will lose the color and might wind up with mud or a dull look to your paintings.

I never use the colors straight out of the tube. My colors are always a mixture of two or more colors from a tube. Besides the colors that I use for my pallet that I wrote about in one of my earlier articles, "Talk About A Limited Pallet", I make my own black or at least I should say a dark color that looks black in relation to its surrounding colors. I achieve this dark color by mixing raw umber, hunter green, cerulean blue and red. If I want a grey, I will add white to the dark color that I just made. For a true natural green I mix raw umber, and hunter green. Cadmium yellow is added to the green mix in order to get the different values of green. I also like to add a little blue to the green to show different types of foliage. I try not to use white by itself because white tends to be on the cool side. I will often mix just a little yellow oxide to my titanium white to get a warm white.

Above is a close-up of the red square area on the painting.

I try to use at least three different values of a particular color on an area I am working on, however four or more is even better. These values would be your dark-tones, mid-tones, and high-tones. Anything else between these tones is icing on the cake. I always come back at the end and add highlights here and there where needed.

Not being afraid of making mistakes is always a good attitude to have when painting. Sometimes this is the only way one will learn what works for them. Think to yourself, "My next painting is going to be even better because of what I have learned today in this painting session". Always try to do better the next time around. Remember what worked and what did not and before you know it your paintings will have that professional look to them. Now let's paint!