Thursday, June 11, 2009

What I like about this site

I like when a painting is posted and it has a story to go with it. I like from a collectors standpoint that story makes it personal. I like that anyone can join in and comment or not. I like that it becomes a journal for a group of people with the same interest. I like that we have the same funny problems. I like that you can price and sell your art work. I like the site because it's not cluttered but very simple and direct. I like that the posts have a contiguous thread and are not tucked away once posted. I like that the members seem to be down to earth and simply like to paint. I like most of all, the site is not pompous, but unassuming and not trying to dissect the Plein Air movement.

3 comments:

bj said...

Wow! Thanks so much for the unsolicited 'atta boy' for our Southern Plein Air Painters blog. Your remarks are exactly what I had in mind when I started the blog. I didn't purposely set out to recruit lots of members. I thought a smaller number (in this case 20), although not exclusive, would be a nice group. And I tried to keep the rules simple...paint outdoors, post the results, add a commentary, price the work (if you want to), no requirements as to the minimum number of posts, etc.

W. Charles Windom said...

I am not yet a plein air painter, but I am going to be starting soon. I have ordered a french style easel, but do have one question, if no one minds; in the studio I use a linseed/mineral spirit mix as my medium; what do you reccomend for outside painting to help dry it faster? but I love this site. Aside from all of that, I love this site. It is so different from the online art galleries. Here you get to see what everyone is doing and how they feel about the work. BJ had a great idea when she came up with this.

bj said...

We love comments and questions...so we don't mind at all.

I think some of our members use Copal painting medium. It speeds drying time and increases the gloss. If you decide to use it, I would recommend using it during the entire painting process because of the gloss factor. If it's used only in parts of the painting, those parts may dry shiny/glossy and some of the other parts may dry dull.

Your linseed oil/mineral spirit mixture would most likely work as well outdoors. The mineral spirit would speed drying time. However, you might want to keep the container lightly covered as breezes might tend to evaporate the spirit part of your mixture if left uncovered during the entire painting time.

I've used safflower oil (but just a tiny dab) as a medium when using particularly stiff oil colors...but that just helps the flow - not drying time.

Long story shortened...you'll probably experiment with several mediums before you settle on the one that works best for you.

Let us know how you're doing in your plein air adventures. Really....we love hearing from other plein air painters.