Plein Air Painting

 Here are 3 paintings from a plein air painting event I participated in Cranford New Jersey. We have a wonderful non-profit arts organization in Cranford, the Jersey Central Arts Studios, headed by an extremely dedicated board of directors who worked tirelessly through the course of the year planning this event. With limited resources and a support staff of volunteers they were able to stage a top tier event.
The talent represented in this show was incredible. We were fortunate to have a number of the finest plein air painters in the country  participate and produce incredible works of art under some difficult weather conditions at venues they have never painted before.
Visit the JCAS website and click on the links of the participating artists and you will get a sense of the depth of talent featured. Become a fan of the JCAS on facebook to keep abreast of the events and classes they sponsor.
Visit the organization's website to find out more about their mission.
Here's the link: http://www.jcas.org/
Most of the artist's have blogs and links to galleries that handle their work.
The approach I took in my paintings were as varied as the
subjects I painted. "Twilight Rate" offered an opportunity to capture the light quality of late afternoon before sunset and actual Twilight Hour. The title refers to the discount greens fees for late afternoon golfers. The light had a pink quality as it approached the horizon. I painted thin and kept the brushwork simple. I left the trees as one mass with subtle shifts in color temperature to suggest varying sizes and distances in the stand of trees.
"Bethesda Fountain" is in Central Park and was a popular subject of American Artists around the turn of the 19th century. I felt the subject called for broken brushwork favored by the impressionist painters. Central Park is a great place and full of activity. I decided to indicate one figure seated at the fountain to keep the focus on the angel of the waters sculpture.
"Antiques" is more of a still life painting than a plein air work.

As the light changed the window reflected the setting surrounding the shops which I chose to ignore. I find in a situation like this you can shift your focus to the objects behind the glass and I didn't feel reflections would add to the painting. The clutter of the objects in the shop window required more resolved handling for them to read properly,

These paintings are all 8" X 10" and are available through my studio. Click on the images for a larger view.

Visit http://www.casalefineart.com/ for contact information and to be placed on an email list.