Friday, August 12, 2011

Plein Air Trespassing

 Forgotten Homestead (9x12)

Not far from our house the geography gets rural pretty quickly. In fact, I'd like to live in such surroundings instead of the area we're in now -- we're close to the country, but still surrounded by freeways and suburban grid...  Out where the above scene was painted, you could actually live on farmland without necessarily being a "farmer"...it just cost money.  But for now, it's still free to go paint there as long as you ask permission of land owners (where appropriate).  Most of the time, people are fine with it, although there are exceptions...
Somewhere on Sauvie Island...

Here is a good example of plein air-phobia aimed at passive artists such as yours truly.  Of course this could have been posted by a disgruntled painter who couldn't find an ideal place to set up, or it's an official one-off alteration penned by Ranger Rick for an ITP* (intent to paint) warning...



 Either way, I ignored such nonsense and forged ahead to sketch the piece above -- it was a beautiful summer day on the island and I enjoyed the company of a couple of artists friends taking in the scenery..... (now as soon as someone can bail us out of the county jail, I'm sure they'll forgive me for suggesting this location...)

7 comments:

  1. Love the paintings, especially the first one. The light and shadow are wonderfully rendered.

    A "no painters" sign - seriously? That is the most bizarre and absurd thing I've ever seen. There is surely no less intrusive or destructive form of land use than a plein air painter.

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  2. I found out about Sauvie Island the first time I went to Portland last year. What a great place to paint! Good job. Are you doing Hood River again this year?

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  3. Hey Eric,

    That was a fun day of painting. Nice resolution on the Pastoral piece. Better carry one of those 'get out of jail' passes from Monopoly as well as that Sauvie pass to be on the safe side! Gosh they make it hard on us. :/

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  4. http://alturl.com/2aruo here is a photo of you and Brenda painting. Had a great time painting.

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  5. That sign must leave alot of non-plein air painters scratching their heads as to what they're not allowed to do.

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  6. beautiful paintings! I do believe I heard that Eric J was responsible for that joke-y sign. I think it was originally a "hiker/walker" and it is meant to keep people off a certain area. He turned it into a painter. haha. funny guy.

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  7. LOL!! I've never seen anything like that sign! Though, if there were always a bunch of strangers on our farm (without asking me first), I would call the police. We have a problem with hunters, never painters! I still can't get over that! Wild!

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