Calico Basin at Red Rock Canyon, plein air painting by Robin Weiss

"Calico Basin Rock Rhythms" 8x10 oil on canvas panel

Our plans were to go on to the Grand Canyon after the convention so I had Sunday evening to paint after everyone else headed home. I found a nice little spot to set up and began this painting. When I was finishing up another artist bounded down the hill and introduced himself as Thomas Jefferson Kitts! He had a friend with him named Brenda Boylan and all of a sudden I  had some painting buddies!!

"Brenda at Work" 7x7 oil on panel

  Now I wanted to stay and do another painting! Since everyone else was painting the scene I just painted, without moving my set up to another location I just turned a bit and painted Brenda in action. I also had my eye on Thomas to see how one of the real pros began his approach...
   It was a highlight of the convention for me. Gods awesome creation, paint, canvas and new friends who love plein air painting. Nice to have someone to laugh and share it with!

  You can view Thomas Jefferson Kitts awesome paintings HERE

  You can view Brenda Boylans fabulous work HERE

And now, if you can stand it......another installment of the promised video ....staring Juan Valdez as artist Robin Weiss.....

 

The Red Rocks from Oak Creek, plein air landscape painting by Robin Weiss

Red Rock National Conservation Area from Oak Creek. 10x18 oil on canvas

I scouted a great spot for painting while driving through the Red Rocks on the first day we arrived. I went back to that spot on the second day of the paint out. It was a beautiful location and I set my camera up to try some videos.

 

It's kind of a series .....And my first try at this!....... Well,..I have two more vids as I progress, but apparently Blogger will only allow me to upload one video at a time .......sheesh!
But anyhow, you get a pretty good idea of my location and set up here...

(Tip Section)...=]....After completing a few paintings it was discovered that I had forgot to bring something to store my wet paintings for the trip home. So, after discussing it with my wife it was decided that I would go to Home Depot and find something. I ended up with several flat cardboard boxes. Which I cut up and constructed a box with shelves to protect the wet work...The tip is....Do Not  leave your wet-painting box on the table , in the camp ground unattended! 

The ravens thought there might be something tasty in it and proceeded to peck holes all over looking for tid-bits!...Tip #2....Don't try and pick debris out of your wet painting until it is Dry!....Oh...and Duct Tape....Don't leave home without it!!!

Red Rock Canyon, plein air landscape painting by Robin Weiss

Red Rock Canyon Cactus 6x8 oil on panel

This is the second one I did on the first day of painting at the same overlook....Still rainy and misty!

I want to try and pass on some of what I learned at the convention and one bit of wisdom  picked up was that my blog should not be a Rob-fest....in other words you guys don't necessarily want to read a bunch of self promotion by me....My blog should be about you! What you would like to know about me or maybe learn from me...right?  That's kinda tricky because I do want to promote my work which is pretty essential to how I make my living...but I also want to keep you interested and coming back ....so if you have the time drop me a note and let me know what you really like reading about.

Plein Air Convention room at the Red Rock Casino

One of the first demonstrators was Richard Robinson. He is a very successful plein air painter from New Zealand. One of the things that has brought Richard a lot of attention besides his amazing artwork is his ability to teach his process using videos and social media. I met Richard when we were on our way to the Vermillion Cliffs. He was painting the canyon with another artist from Australia and invited me to paint with him..I'm sorry I didn't!  But We wanted to get to the cliffs....You can order Richards excellent videos here.  There is some free stuff too!...see.... I told you he was a good marketer!..

P.S. If you're wondering what the marching band is doing in the convention room....well, that is Eric Rhodes idea of a grand finale......and believe it or not....Elvis kicked off the event......Thank ya very much....

First Annual Plein Air Convention and Expo, plein air paintings by Robin Weiss

Red Rock Canyon from the Overlook, 8x10 oil on panel

Well....now that we are back home I can post all about the First Annual Plein Air Convention and Expo held at Red Rock Casino and Resort in Las Vegas. We have been gone about 12 days and took a whirl-wind tour of the Grand Canyon and Zion National parks. I did nine plein air paintings on this trip in some extreme conditions. These paintings are meant to be studies and color notes for larger paintings. As you can see in this study the weather during the first few days was wet. Rain and mist kept blowing through the canyon and changed by the minute.
.

Jeremy Lipking demonstrates the portrait at the first Annual Plein Air Convention and Expo

The overlook at Red Rocks National Conservancy Area

The first time I had the chance to paint was after two days of classes and demonstrations . We learned a lot about marketing and saw some of the best painters in the business do on stage demos.   Jeremy Lipking set up with Alexy Steel and Tony Pro for an on stage portrait demonstration. We also got to see Richard Robinson, Ken Auster , Ned Muellar, Matt Smith and many other great artists paint and explain their process. It was great and I picked up some good tips.There was also a lot of vendors selling their wares....I highly recomend Rosemary brushes if you haven't tried them yet .     I'll be posting my paintings and pictures of the trip over the next few days so stay tuned. If you have any questions about the convention, what I learned  or the paintings, feel free to email me at robinweiss@earthlink.net                                                                                                           

"The Bus Stop at Second and Marion" Seattle cityscape oil painting by Robin Weiss

"The Bus stop at 2nd and Marion" 16x24 oil on canvas Sold

I don't recommend this for anyone else ....but....I have this bad habit of resting my camera on the steering wheel while driving down city streets. I snap pictures without really looking at what the camera is getting and then sort it all out later... This can be dangerous if you don't have a lot of practice doing it....You have to concentrate hard on what is going on around you without focusing on the camera but just hitting the shutter....This painting is a compilation of some of those images.  You can see the Smith Tower in the distance and on the left is the Metropolitan Grill. For a long time the Smith Tower was the tallest building in Seattle.

"Tulip Farm" LaConnor flower field, landscape oil painting by Robin Weiss"Tulip Farm"

"Tulip Farm" 8x6 oil on panel

Well, I have decided that tulips are HARD to paint! Especially red tulips! This is another one that I tried to get the sense of being down among the flowers in the field .......not so successfully....The problem is I wasn't happy with the foreground tulips so I totally over worked them.

I think that I did better with this view.

"Daffodil Farm" LaConnor flower field, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Daffodil Farm" 7x11 oil on canvas panel

I tried to develop the foreground daffodils in this study to get a sense that you are right down among the flowers.
 I painted this on a canvas panel that me and my friend, artist Derek Gundy are collaborating on making for plein air painting. Derek works at the local framing and art supply store called Artists Edge here in poulsbo.He is also a great artist and you can see some of his interesting , whimsical and often humorous paintings HERE

You can see the earlier painting that I did of this field here

"Tulip Fields Forever" LaConner flower field, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Tulip Fields Forever" 18x36 oil on panel

I have been watching the early fruit trees coming into blossom the last few weeks and wanting to paint them. Every time I got out the PA gear with a break in the weather hoping to paint, the sky would go black and the wind would pick up and I would be back in the studio looking through my reference photos.  I found my images from a trip to LaConner in 2010 and decided to paint a few spring inspired paintings.

"Rooms 75 Cents" Seattle cityscape oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Rooms 75 Cents" 8x10 oil on panel SOLD

This completes the Pergola rainy day series...for now anyway....The weather is finally shaping up around here and I want to go out and paint!
 I do have a few paintings done from pictures I took in Laconor of the flower fields to post. These paintings were done for Bluewater Artworks spring show. After that maybe we can get down to some real plein air painting!

"White Umbrella" Seattle cityscape, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"White Umbrella" 6x8 oil on panel

I followed this couple as they were walking happily.... and apparently in love, down the side walk with the rain pouring down . They were laughing and holding hands ....and I was hoping I could capture the spirit and feel of the scene.....

I really enjoy trying to capture these rainy day scenes ...HERE is another one from the archives....a large 60x40 commission piece I did a few years back...It is now hanging on the 16th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle.

"Rain Shine" Seattle cityscape, oil painting by Robin Weiss

"Rain Shine"  8x12 oil on panel SOLD

The next in this series.... features happy people with umbrellas, walking in the city with the Pergola as a backdrop....I hope this painting lifts your spirits a little ....especially if you live in the Northwest where we have been getting our fair share of rain!

Jessie Rasche is another Washington painter who works in a very impressionistic style. She was raised in the Seattle area but now lives in Eastern Washington...Check out her website here