Oil Painters of America

Katherine M. Schneider has been accepted as an Associate Member of the Oil Painters of America (OPA). With over 2,900 members, the Oil Painters of America is one of the leading organizations in the country dedicated to the support and preservation of representational art.

The Oil Painters of America membership includes many of the most accomplished contemporary artists in the country including Kevin Macpherson, William Schneider, Daniel Greene, and Everett Raymond Kinstler.

"Sunshine on Hampton Plantation" A Plein Air Painting of a Southern Mansion

Painting in the shade of the Washington Oak this afternoon, I was glad I remembered to bring lots of bug spray. With recent summer showers, the mosquitoes were out in force. I was swarmed so badly I'm surprised I have any blood left.

Bug spray and a portable bug zapper improved the situation and I had a wonderful afternoon painting at one of my favorite locations - Hampton Plantation Historical Site.

"Sunshine on Hampton Plantation"
Oil on cradled panel
Dimensions: 11" x 14"
Price: $450.00

I had the pleasure of meeting internationally famous author and painter, Kevin Macpherson when he was in Charleston this spring. Mr. Macpherson creates beautiful, award winning paintings using a limited palette of only 3 primary colors (yellow, red, blue) with white. In his books and workshops, he teaches the importance of mixing "harmonious colors and sensitive grays".
Although I like to use a few more "tube" colors on my palette for convenience, I am working on mixing a wider range of grays and neutrals. Here's a photo of my palette showing the mixtures I've been experimenting with recently.
The shadows and sunshine in the painting "Sunshine on Hampton Plantation" gave me an opportunity to try out these new neutral mixtures while working with color harmony and accurate values. I feel the painting succeeds in portraying the effect of light and shadow on the white mansion due to the use of a wide range of warm and cool grays.

"Evening Light at Hampton Plantation" A Plein Air Painting of a Historical Site

I took advantage of the cooler weather today to paint "en plein air" (on location) at Hampton Plantation State Historical Site.
The magnificent "Washington Oak" framing the plantation house's stately front portico with moss draped branches is the subject I chose to paint this afternoon. The tree is said to have been saved from being cut down to provide a better view from the newly built front portico by President George Washington during his visit to Hampton Plantation in 1791.
Now a mighty live oak, the tree was named in his honor.

The lengthening evening shadows falling through the tree's branches and across the front lawn create an interesting value contrast in my plein air painting of Hampton Plantation, the stately home of South Carolina's first poet laureate, Archibald Rutledge.

"Evening Light at Hampton Plantation"
Plein air oil on cradled panel
Dimensions: 11" x 14"
Private collection