|
A Good Day...
 This morning I had the most pleasurable experience that I wish everybody, especially my watercolor friends and collectors, could share with me. Before sunrise I was up at my studio gathering my plein air supplies, including sheets of watercolor paper, portable easel, a collapsible wool felt “Indiana Jones” hat. In wool gloves with the cut-out fingers, I drove my Toyota 4-runner to Oysterville. My goal was to finish four studies of the marsh and woodlands before 10am, and then go out later in the day to another location to paint four more.
A beautiful sunrise was just cresting the Willapa Hills as I set up my easel in a tidal marsh. Soon ducks and geese made their presence known as they came in to feed. As the Impressionists would do, I too painted directly with as little hesitation as possible to capture the color harmonies before me. I know that I have only about 40 minutes before the light changes significantly enough to alter my motif. Any further development is basically done by memory, and understandably, more difficult. (continued below)
|
|
|
|
Other News:
If you live in the Portland area, you may enjoy seeing five new Wiegardt paintings at Gottlieb Gallery on 220 SW Yamhill:
www.gottliebgallery.com
North Head Lighthouse, as seen on the cover of the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Guide 2008, is now available as a limited edition lithograph for only $75. For ordering and more information, click here.
Special:
Through March 31st, all framed prints will receive free shipping with mention of this newsletter.
|
|
|
A Good Day, cont'd
 I find the colors in the shadows of the trees quite fascinating. Monet once exclaimed “There’s color in the shadows!”, not the lifeless grays his predecessors led him to believe. I have been told, and found to be true, that if I use my peripheral vision I can sense shadow colors better.
One painting after another I captured the color harmonies. The sun shifted from a warm glow to a light pink to an overcast blue as the morning proceeded. The marsh of green grass glowed with pockets of red and violet, colors that would not show up in a photograph. At times the tree shadows were a cobalt blue, and other times they shifted to a warm pink. What a wonderful gift to enjoy such beauty, to respond to it in a creative way, and to call it my job! I can only hope I sufficiently impart the beauty I saw to those who will view my work.
|
 |
By the way, it was such a pleasurable experience that I stayed and did all eight paintings; at 1pm a drizzle set in, I was tired, and an invigorating day of being outdoors and painting was done. To see more of the paintings, visit www.ericwiegardt.com.
Click here to read more essays by Eric on painting, including a full-color article published in the April 2008 issue of Watercolor Artist.
|
|
