One of my most favorite plein air painting groups is located in Newport, RI where they just opened their own gallery called Harbor Fine Arts to showcase their work. There are five members and they have had a fantastic reception from the public. I was invited to join them on several outings while visiting and was intrigued to see that Jonathan McPhillips was recording his actual plein air painting in real time with a camera set up on his easel. Later, back in the studio he adds music and speeds it up so you can watch his every brush stroke as he paints a complete plein air that took him about an hour and a half-in a few minutes. It is amazing and lots of fun.

Only a really confident and professional artist can do this and I encourage you to visit his website, www.jonathanmcphillips.com ,  to experience the action. I was impressed with how he started out with a strong pattern that let him quickly and accurately build on-basically a compass to keep him moving forward as it is imperative to keep up with the light.

Once that is down and the darkest and lightest values have been identified, he continues building details with blocks of accurate values and temperatures of color. He satisfies the viewer with a final brush stroke of dramatic lighting exactly in the right focal point-the reason why he was attracted to this scene in the first place-et voila!

The famous American landscape artist, Edgar Payne, has sketches in his book showing the strongest patterns to look for in nature that help an artist create a successful painting. These patterns are the pathway the viewer’s eye will travel as they explore the painting and it is very important to stick with ones that work such as the 0/circle, the S, the triangle, the steel yard or the U. There are many more good patterns to look for and even combinations for the advanced artist to work with but all good paintings start out with compelling composition.

By Laurie Warner

Artist and Owner of Nouveau Art Gallery

http://nouveauartgallery.rubylane.com