Comment by Gregg Caudell on March 10, 2010 at 11:31am

Don, thanks for putting the abstract group back in business. Great job starting off the discussion with a definition of what you think abstract plein air might be. It would be interesting to excerpt from the plein air site, those paintings that might be included in what we all think an 'abstract plein air' piece looks like and then ask how it was done. I think we would find a very broad spectrum of answers. If find there are very few totally abstract pieces. It's almost as if painting from nature and pure abstraction is mutually exclusive but it does appear that, as you point out, there are elements of abstraction during the representational process. I'm thinking of Rothko's series of black on black paintings, which are abstractions of emotion that could be interpreted in another way as a portrait of dark room.
here is a piece I just did which exhibits both my considerations. With one foot in the absrtact and the other representational. I can't seem to get beyond that representational anchor. The abstract element/background was a pleasure to pursue. The sky, window, walls, cans and tools all as mere suggestions were a discovery of light as depth of field. Is it simply an unfinished painting or a finished abstract painting. One thing is certain, every painting I do is an experiment of usually being in the moment, a discovery of light.

hmmm..........http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_painting

Comment by Donald Maier on March 11, 2010 at 2:56pm

Are these your horses? This one looks like a Clydesdale, or maybe I've had too many Budwisers. Often I will do studio paintings from my plein air watercolors and will change the composition, brightness of color, exagerating it and more than likely, abstract it into basic shapes. I made a comparison on a blog post recently using a yellow bungalow in Key West painting called Thunderstorm in Key West. I showed the original, then a studio wc and finally the large abstract oil. I think it is easier for me to do the abstraction in the studio for some reason. While on site I am always so concerned with capturing the basic info asap. Thinking to the next level of abstracting the design is a bit out there for me. I have heard others express this same feeling. I must really try to do the abstracting as a consious things next time.

Comment by Peggy Anderson on March 11, 2010 at 4:22pm

I am a new painter, having begun in October 2007 in Bay Area classes of Elio Camacho. I was looking for ceramics classes when I saw his class offering and fell in love with his loose, vibrant paintings. I was starting my new career in watchmaking at the time and needed a creative outlet. That career path gives a clue of the difficulty I have being loose and fast when painting, but that is what I want to achieve. I don't know if I will succeed, but I have time now to keep trying. I'm excited to be painting again and enjoy your inspiration. Thanks to all of you.

Comment by Gregg Caudell on March 11, 2010 at 10:36pm

Don, yep that's one of my horses. I have 6 drafts that I farm with. 3 Belgians, 2 Percherons and 1 cross bred draft. I used to log with them but that went away. I'm all about draft horses. They've owned me for most of my life and have always been my inspiration. Published some stuff about them.
I think I'm getting into a groove with my painting of them.
Yes, I think plein air painters start out literally. Nature is the muse. Technique and creativity/abstraction come along later. I try real hard not to be a camera. I start out trying to think of a painting the scene might look like to have a goal to shoot for. Monet, Reese, Charlie Russel, Hans Hoffman, Caravagio. Kind of like music is about something we've heard before from other artists.
Drawing and composition first, but always pursuing the light.
I agree with you on the progression of an idea. I too extrapolate from my plein air pieces into larger studio pieces. I don't do so well in the studio, something I tried to work through this winter but always feel better in the wide open. I leave a canvas in the barn and am always working on it when I'm feeding the horses. Someday I'll get a good piece out of the studio. I keep trying.

Comment by Gregg Caudell on March 12, 2010 at 5:49am

Simon, sometimes too cool as the sun doesn't shine in there. Atleast when you are out and about you can find a sunbeam to set your easle up in.

Comment by Donald Maier on March 13, 2010 at 9:53pm

I certainly was not intended as such, but this watercolor of rotting pine logs done in my backyard stricks me as having an abstrat quality about it. Irregular forms not easily recognizable make it so.

Comment by Raya on March 16, 2010 at 8:16am

So glad we’re back!
Been so busy painting up work for the NY EXPO but my time is my own again. I missed our conversations!

Comment by Donald Maier on March 21, 2010 at 1:13pm

I did this oil yesterday in the late afternoon, the first day of Spring. It was 71° here in Georgia and I needed to get outside. This is down by my creek in my backyard where the bend had washed out soil from around the supporting roots from a large poplar tree. The changing patterns of light and dark and the sunlite poping in and out from behind the clouds, the many small trees giving the vertial and diagonal lines, to me, give this a very abstract look. I don't know, what do you think?

Comment by Gregg Caudell on March 21, 2010 at 11:30pm

Don, I think your oil of the creek is a wonderful Impressionist piece. It's a great composition too. It works right side up or upside down.

Comment by Kathryn Townsend on March 22, 2010 at 12:37am

Don--ditto on your painting. Beautiful color harmonies.

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