To someone who is used to painting outdoors most of the time in T-shirts and shorts, painting in New York this winter was an outstanding experience at all levels.
First I had to learn that dressing as a regular winter tourist is not enough. Standing still for several hours on the street in temperatures around 0 c and lower is very uncomfortable if not dangerous when you are not dressed accordingly.
I have quickly learned about layers, hand warmer pads, ear muffs, leg warmers, insulated boots and added words like "balaclava" to my vocabulary.
Then, the challenge was capturing the wonderful atmosphere on my canvas!
In such low temperatures I had the opportunity to paint sunny, rainy and snowy days in oil and soft pastels as well.
I have already posted some on my Facebook profile and I will post some more here. I hope you enjoy the images and watching the short videos.
Plein air painting requires from the artist study and discipline. Capturing light, color and local atmosphere inside a short frame of time demands a keen sense of observation and simplification. These are only acquired with practice. It is indeed quite different from painting in the studio under a controlled environment.
Time is always a concern, light changes and atmospheric conditions can be a challenge.In fact, the interaction with the surroundings plays an integral part and lends a special character to the painting result.
Hence, small and medium are the formats of choice when painting outdoors.
I'm always researching on ideas to increase portabillity of my painting gear in oil, pastel and watercolor. I have pochade boxes and easels on several sizes according to the work I intend to produce at the moment.
Recently I've found out that I can reduce even more my pochade box.Up to now my smaller one was the Julian Paris Thumb box. This time I'm experimenting with mint tins, I've been using it for my studies on this trip to New York achieving interesting results.
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Sandra Nunes
New York Impressions
Studies or Miniatures?
Studies are preliminary works, generally in a small scale when the artist deals with his ideas on color notations, composition, drawing and other aspects of a finished painting before compromising with a larger work.
We have amazing exemples of by the Great Masters posted here on this blog some of them I had the pleasure of studying up close and personal like Joaquin Sorolla, Constable, Turner...
Joaquin Sorolla
Small studies
Museo Sorolla
Turner
Study of clouds
Joaquin Sorolla
Study of Fiherwomen
On the other hand, Miniature Paintings are works, very detailed with their origins in illuminations and it can be traced back to ancient Egyptian manuscripts. Generally with this technique, the artist uses magnifying glass and really tiny brushes to achieve very intricate detailed images. In fact Miniature is a genre of painting and it is not necessarily small.
I strive to follow the way paved by the great masters, and I intend to continue experimenting with the "mini pochade tin"(?) on my plein air studies.
Some of these works will be developed on a larger scale, and they will be available for you. In case you are interested, please email-me.
This afternoon I stopped at Union Square and captured the iconic New York yellow taxi out of a mint tin :
New York Yellow Cab
Sandra Nunes
Plein Air Painting
New York Impressions
I am always working on ideas to join my two passions, plein air painting and travelling. In my hometown I ride my bikeeasel leading me to places I would not go with a heavier gear. I have got this pochade-mint tint idea from an artist on instagram and I thought I could try it but going a bit larger with the painting dimensions without compromising portability.
Brooklyn Promenade
New York Impressions
Sandra Nunes
Plein air painting
Painting outdoors poses a lot of problems as compared with painting in the studio, where you have a controlled environment. Working on the sidewalks of a great city requires even more attention.
The autumn light was wonderful , I went out early in the morning straight to 125th street ready to capture the hustle-bustle of people and the light on the iconic Apollo Theater facade.
I opened my easel and pochade box strategically in the sun trying to neutralize the 12c. temperature.
125th street - New York Apollo Theater
After some minutes stablishing the composition and block in, my view of the theme is completely blocked!
Apollo Theater - New York My view completely blocked by a sidewalk vendor
Apparently I had chosen a spot already taken by its usual owner. The young man parked his cart some steps from me and after a look that I didn´t understand at that moment, he started to assemble his stand and merchandise .
What to do? Considering that I was painting in a neighborhood that I had no idea of what kind of risks I was exposed, I just continued working, trying to see "through" the obstacles.
Little by little, his stand was assembled, my view was cleared, and we got along with each other all the morning in our activities.
Sandra Nunes Plein Air Painting in New York Apollo Theater
Welcome to my art Blog, I share here my experiences when painting outdoors and show some of my recent paintings . I hope you enjoy it. ;) Some of the works displayed here and in my official website are available. Feel free to contact the artist by email for an eventual order or comission. We ship paintings anywhere abroad.
