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Sunday, May 06, 2012

Painting Daisies en Plein Air...Then and Now

'Mrs. Parks Daisies'    Plein Air Oil on Board    6x8       ©Karen Margulis Sold
I just got back from the Blue Ridge Georgia Plein Air Festival. I had a wonderful time! We had good weather and great company. We painted all day and spent the evenings rocking on the screen porch and catching up with good friends. My friends Marsha Savage and Virginia Dauth both took home awards! I chose to paint only in oils and did 10 paintings. I had so much fun.  We had a chance to revisit on of my favorite Blue Ridge painting locations, the farm of Mrs. Ruby Parks.

It occurred to me as I looked at my paintings that my very first plein air experience was 6 years ago at Mrs. Parks farm. I was taking a pastel workshop with Marsha Savage and I didn't have a clue about plein air. I had only been painting for a few months. But I fell in love with the whole experience!  One of the paintings I did then was an 8x10 pastel of a clump of daisies. It was my first success and I was hooked. (see it below)

Now six years later I was a newbie again trying a new medium. I enjoyed revisiting the landscape and interpreting it with oils. One of the subjects I tired again was a clump of daisies I saw in the meadow at Mrs. Parks. It is interesting to me that I chose the same palette for the daisies 6 years later and in a different medium! Stay tuned tomorrow for a full report on my plein air trip!

'Plein air Daisies'   8x10   pastel

7 comments:

juliefordoliver.blogspot.com said...

Both are lovely in color but the second one has "linked the lights" so I think I vote for the oil.

Miriam said...

I really Love your pieces they are fantastic! Painter myself from Ireland and I am inspired by your techniques. Amazing

robertsloan2art said...

Both of these are lovely. I'm looking forward to more of the story! Plein Air is fantastic - and it says something for your observation that you used the same palette in both pastels and oils.

It's odd. Daisies are not my favorite flower by any stretch of the imagination. I got annoyed with them as a kid for various reasons - and I love how you've rendered them. They don't look boring.

Karen said...

Thanks Julie! I like that phrase 'Link the lights'!

Karen said...

Hi Miriam,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you'll come back often!

Karen said...

Hi Robert! Thanks for the comment. I don't know why I like to paint daisies. I guess part of it is the challenge to make them look natural and not too stiff.

Marietjie said...

Those daisies are stunning, but so is all your work.