Paint Out Schedule

 

View from Champlin Beach Park on Keuka Lake

Announcing the PAINT OUT dates for this summer and fall!

Subscribe to my blog, or check back here for posted Paint Out dates for Painting our Parks. I will be posting more dates as they are planned. Feel free to message me if you have questions. These sessions are not classes, just informal paint-alongs. I will ask to keep your painting for a final exhibit at local libraries.

• Sunday, August 18, 2-4 pm - Denison Park, Corning NY. Meet by the gazebo on the island in Denison Park. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. 
• Thursday, August 29th, 12:30pm -2 pm - Centerway Square and Centennial Park, Corning NY. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. Look for my "Painting our Parks" sign.
  
• Sunday, September 1, 2-4 pm - Depot Park, Hammondsport NY. Meet at the picnic tables near the swimming beach area. Look for my "Painting our Parks" sign. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. 
• Thursday September 5, 2-4pm - Champlin Beach, Hammondsport, NY. Look for my "Painting our Parks" sign. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. 
• Thursday September 12, 2-4pm. Houghton Persevere, Corning NY. Meet in the parking lot. Look for my "Painting our Parks" sign. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. 
• Thursday October 3, 2-4pm. Mossy Bank Park. Bath, NY. Meet in the parking lot. Look for my "Painting our Parks" sign. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. 
• Sunday October 20, 2-4 pm.  Amelia Pond, Spencer Crest Nature Center, Corning, NY. Look for my "Painting our Parks" sign. Come to watch or paint with me, all supplies are provided. 

 "Painting Our Parks" is an interactive exploration of painting in public parks. I want to bring the act of painting to the public, to demystify the process and make it a community event. Making art more accessible to the general public is extremely important to me, and I believe public art enriches our community. Throughout the year I will pick public parks in the Steuben County for a series of plein air painting sessions with public interaction. I will call these sessions "Paint Outs". The public will be invited to watch, ask questions, and participate in the plein air painting process.

To be notified of "Paint Out" events and receive time and location details please subscribe to this blog, or email me at bbbvanotterloo@gmail.com.

I will announce locations and dates for these "Paint Outs" for the public to participate on my social media channels and email mailing list. While painting on location, I will invite the public to participate in the following ways: to ask questions, watch for as long as they like, and paint on provided materials. I will set up an additional easel next to mine, and use park picnic tables. Watercolor paper, paint, brushes, and other supplies will be provided for them to create with. I will give feedback to participants, but it will not be a formal workshop session, more of an open air studio session.

For the past few years I have been exploring “plein air” painting. “En plein air” is a French phrase meaning “in the open air.” I love being outside as much as possible, and during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, this was the only way to work with fellow artists. Before this new direction of landscape painting most of my work focused on representational floral and still life paintings created in my studio. Venturing outside of my studio has expanded my painting world, and I am challenged in new ways beyond the classical still life. When painting outside, I am limited to a few hours of painting time by the weather conditions and my energy level. This has forced me to focus on the most important elements of a painting – the sense of place, direction of light, color temperatures, and what I want to communicate in a painting. I look forward to sharing this love of plein air painting with the public.

The final piece of my project will be an exhibit that rotates through Steuben County libraries. These venues will be free and accessible to the public.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.

 

Quarry Farm Fellow, June 2022 Artist Residency

Last week I had the honor of being a Quarry Farm Fellow with Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies. Quarry Farm was the summer home of Mark Twain’s family. He spent over twenty summers here, writing many of his classics from his octagonal study on the hill overlooking the Chemung river valley. I could see why he and his family loved it here, the view and breeze from the valley is heavenly. Over my five-day stay at Quarry Farm I completed five paintings, one painting a day! I set for myself this goal at the beginning of the week, and was happy to achieve it. My work feels like play (most of the time) and the right environment can help me stay in that flow state needed to create work. Quarry Farm is an ideal place for inspired concentration. There is a peacefulness accompanied by bird song that made the perfect background for plein air painting. 

What I enjoy about plein air painting is the time pressure and challenge of finishing a painting in about 4-5 hours. It forces me to loosen up, to not be too tight or get caught up in too many details. You have to stand back from your subject and think, what is most important here? What should I focus on, and what can be left out? Then you can only stand out on the lawn for so long with the flies sticking in your paint, and the spongy moth caterpillars parachuting down from the trees – you have to get right to the heart of the painting.

"Quarry Farm" 11x14 oil painting by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

There is a lot of history here at Quarry Farm, you can read more about it here: https://marktwainstudies.com/about/quarry-farm/, and take virtual tour of the historic home here: https://marktwainstudies.com/online-resources/quarry-farm-virtual-tour/

When I wasn't painting, I enjoyed exploring the historic house, checking out all the books in the library and study, and walking around the grounds.

Quarry Farm Parlor

I spent most of my time out on the front porch painting and observing. The light was best here for painting, and the view was always inspiring.

View from the Quarry Farm Porch

Painting "Housed on the Hill"

 "Housed on the Hill" 11x14 oil painting by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

Spending the week out on the porch and in the historic house made me feel like I was stepping back in time. I could imagine all the time Mark Twain, his family, and friends spent here. Susan Crane really achieved her goal of making Quarry Farm a place people wanted to be, enjoying their own company, and the company of others.

"But we are housed here on top of the hill, now, where it is always cool, & still, & reposeful & bewitching." Samuel Clemens to William Dean Howells, 14 June, 1877, Elmira NY

Samuel Clemens

Even on rainy days, the landscape was inspiring, and the porch was my shelter from the elements. I had to complete this painting, "Rainy Day View" in about two hours, as the rain and wind started coming in sideways on the porch. I really like the freshness and sense of atmosphere in this painting.

"Rainy Day View" 8x10 oil by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

Here is a view of the Chemung River Valley on a clear day. I'm sure one could see the river and valley below even more clearly back in Mark Twain's day. 

"Chemung Valley View" 10x14 watercolor by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

The porch lattice work and circular windows silhouetted the gardens surrounding the house perfectly. I tried to capture the feeling of the bright light beyond the shelter of the porch here in this watercolor painting.

"Garden View" 10x14 watercolor by Bridget Bossart van Otterloo

Quarry Farm Gardens

Two paintings from my residency, "Quarry Farm" 11x14 oil, and "Rainy Day View" 8x10 oil, will be framed and join the Quarry Farm Collection. 

Thank you Elmira College and Jospeh Lemak for this opportunity.

How do you know when a painting is finished?

My studio full of mostly finished paintings, awaiting the fall show at West End Gallery.

How do you know when a painting is finished? This question runs through my head a lot, especially this time of year when I am finishing up my paintings for the West End Gallery show. An exhibit takes a lot of planning. I need to finish applying paint about a month before the show so that the paintings have time to dry before the final layer of Retouch Varnish. Then they need another week or so before the varnish is dry enough for the painting to be framed. My calendar is all marked up with self-imposed deadlines.
One way to know when to stop working on a painting is a firm deadline like an exhibit. I could keep fussing away at small details in my paintings, but time will not allow it. Instead, I stand back, look at them from a distance, or reverse in a mirror, and say to myself "It's finished." This requires turning off the critical perfectionist part of me and focusing on the big picture.
Here are some questions I ask myself to help decide if a painting is finished:

• "What is the main idea I want to communicate in this painting, and have I achieved that?" 
• "Is there anything about the painting that is catching my eye in a distracting way?" 
• "Do I like it?" 
• "Will continuing to work on this painting help or hurt?

When I teach and give Artist Talks I get the question of "how do you know when to stop?" a lot. I wish the answer could be simple. Deadlines do help. Otherwise, you just need to ask yourself if you are achieving what you set out to do, and if continuing to work on the painting/artwork will help or hurt. Sometimes a partially finished painting has a fresh vibrant quality that more time and layers of paint will destroy. This painting of Peonies below is a good example of that.

Painting Peonies from life in June.

This painting was painted on multimedia board. You can see the board and the first layers of paint showing through in the brightest spots on the right side. The multi media board gives a watercolor-like effect in the first few layers of paint. I love the freshness of the beginning and middle stages of a painting. Sometimes, by the time I finish, I wish I could rewind to this stage.

Cloud Study plein air painting.

This Cloud study painting was done en plein air, meaning in the open air. It took me about two hours painting on location at a friend's home on Keuka Lake, NY. There's a spontaneity to plein air paintings that I love. If I were to work on it more at home in the studio, I would lose some of that fresh feeling. So I declared this painting finished when it was time to pack up and go home.

Work in progress during the Marty Poole workshop at 171 Cedar Arts Center

I started the above painting in a workshop with Marty Poole at 171 Cedar Arts Center this past June. This photo was taken at the end of the two-day workshop. I'm happy with the progress I made during the workshop and plan to leave this painting in its semi-finished state. I might work a little more on the apple in the girl's hand, making that the focus of the painting. Other than that, I think I will leave the sketch lines of the under-painting in the bottom half. During the workshop, Marty talked about pushing through the hard stages of a painting and not just giving up. It's at this point in the painting process that you really learn and grow.


The question of when to stop working on a painting, or any project, is an age old question. You can apply it to many areas of your life. How do you know when to make a change? How do you truly know when you're ready? Sometimes you just have to dive in and go for it. Only you can know when time is right.

Happy painting,
Bridget

P.S. See all of my finished paintings at West End Gallery this fall. "Nature's Light" Opens September 9th with a reception from 5:00 - 7:30 pm. This is a two person show with the fabulous work of Brian Keeler. The show will be on view through October 14, 2016.

Summer time = plein air painting time

Work in Progress - Painting at the Peony Farm.

I love living here in the Finger Lakes region of Western, NY. Summers are a perfect time get out of my studio for plein air painting trips with artist friends. There's something magical about painting outside and from life. All the information is right there in front of you, including the bugs that get stuck in your painting. The weather had been gorgeous here, so I packed up my half box folding easel and headed out. Thank you to Barbara Hall Blumer for showing me a great painting spot, and thank you Doris for letting us invade your beautiful home on Keuka Lake.

Here are some pictures from last week's trip to Borglum's Iris and Peony Farm near Geneva, NY, followed by pictures from today's trip to Keuka Lake. 

Fields and rows of peonies at Borglum's Farm, near Geneva NY.

"Clouds over Keuka Lake" 11x14 oil on board

Cloud study #2, 8x10 oil on canvas

Debian critiques my paintings back home in the studio.

Relaxing and enjoying the view after a productive morning of painting.