It's important to keep all the tools in my "artistic toolbox" sharp so I'm drawing and sketching today to study shapes and forms from nature.
Besides, it's relaxing and enjoyable.
"Reaching for the Marsh"
Charcoal and white pastel on paper
Drawing : 10.5" x 14"
Matted and Framed : 19 x 23.5"
Price: $150.00
In my plein air painting "Mossy Marsh Oak", I used a warm color on the painting surface to enrich my oil paint. The warm tone of the canvas adds contrast to the cool blues and greens in the landscape. It also gives impact to the highlights in the Live Oak, Spanish moss, and marsh.
The painting panel was prepared several days earlier and allowed to dry. 
Once on location, I lightly sketched the scene in charcoal on my painting surface.
Next, I worked over the sketch with thinned oil paint to establish the composition.
I then painted the horizon line, marsh and sky. The form of oak tree in the foreground was painted last, to build on the values of the sky and middle ground marsh.
As the afternoon sun began to set, I was able to see the last rays of the sun highlighting the marsh, creek and live oak. These highlights were added quickly by "etching" into the layer of oil paint revealing the warm tone of the panel.
I hope you like the result of "planned spontaneity" by using a pretoned canvas in this plein air painting of sunlight on a Mossy Marsh Oak.
There's a hint of fall in the Lowcountry this week. The weather is perfect for plein air painting in the marsh with a slight breeze and no bugs.
I started with a preliminary charcoal drawing of the marsh scene before painting. I often bring my sketch book to work out design issues in a composition. Drawing is a useful tool - it sharpens artistic observation and is a good "creative warm up" for painting.
Here's the final plein air painting of the marsh scene in oil. I've adjusted the composition to include the bend in the creek. This change leads the viewer's eye from the foreground around the bend of the creek into the marsh rather than off the page as in the earlier charcoal drawing. I've also lowered the horizon line to include more sky.
Painting is a "process" as well as a "product". Hope you like the result.
"Late Summer in the Marsh"
11"x 14"
Oil on cradled panel
The painting "Shrimp Trawler on the Creek" is an alla prima oil painting I'm working on for an upcoming show. 
In it, I've used value and color contrast to portray sunlight breaking through storm clouds over a Lowcountry creek. The yellow of the afternoon sun contrasts with the dark blue of the storm clouds adding a sense of drama and visual interest to this otherwise peaceful scene.
The painting is is one of several new pieces in progress to be included in a show I'm having this fall in Charleston.
A visitor to the studio says it reminds him of one of his grandmother's nursery ditties "Shrimp Boats Is A-Coming". It's a charming old southern folk song with these lyrics:
"Shrimp boats is a-coming there's dancing tonight. Shrimp boats is a-coming there's dancing tonight. Won't you hurry, hurry, hurry home. Won't you hurry, hurry, hurry home. Shrimp boats is a-coming there's dancing tonight".
Recent restoration of the circa 1907 bandstand at White Point Gardens has revealed a foundry mark 
with Charleston origins on the bases of the cast iron columns.
Dustin Clemens, Project Manager of the White Point Gardens Restoration Project for the City of Charleston Parks Dept. took this photo of the John F Riley Iron Works foundry stamp from a bandstand column undergoing restoration on Aug. 13, 2009.
A John F Riley operated his foundry on South St. in Chas. in the early 1900's according to research by Dr. Nicholas Butler, Manager of the Charleston Archive at the Chas. Co. Library. This John F Riley was the brother of Andrew J. Riley, the grandfather of Charleston's present mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr.
Aug. 15, 2009, I had a chance to see the restoration work in progress at Charles Blanchard Construction Co.. 
Numerous layers of old paint and rust have been removed and a coating of primer paint has been applied to the ironwork. The columns, with the foundry mark now clearly visible after removal of decades of paint are resting on wooden supports awaiting additional repairs.
David Rowland, of TonMar Industries is seen here restoring one of the 8 bandstand arches.
The grey areas on the arches indicate the locations of original foundry repairs to the iron work due to casting flaws. These areas are undergoing additional stabilization and restoration.
As a sculptor who has both built and cast from molds, I appreciate the skill and degree of complexity that was involved in casting this ironwork. Looking at the riveted attachments and casting supports inside the iron arches was a trip back in time.
The fact that these cast iron columns and arches of the bandstand have 
withstood the damaging effects of over 100 years in a subtropical climate of heat, humidity, salt air, and hurricane force winds is a testament to the work of the John F. Riley Iron Works of Charleston, SC.
As of Aug. 2009, restoration work of the White Point Gardens bandstand has removed the circa 1934 foundation and steps, the original cast iron columns, and decorative arches.
The tiled roof has been raised and is presently resting on steel I beams awaiting completion of the new foundation along with re-installation of the original cast iron columns and arches.
The $273,500 price tag to renovate the 1907 bandstand has not gone without comments in this era of widespread economic downturn, however supporters of the project state that the bandstand generates revenue for the city from rental of the space by wedding parties and is an "iconic structure" worthy of restoration. 
The band stand has become a prominent landmark and favorite destination for brides and visitors during it's 107 years in White Point Gardens, but some question the need for such extensive rebuilding of the structure rather than a more conservative and less expensive preservation project.
In a recent post to "Paint Charleston Daily", a reader states the following: "The band stand is completely made of cast iron. The casting was done by Riley iron works in 1902. Does anyone know if this is a descendant of the present mayor and what the cost was back then to cast the columns and upper arches? And, where was Riley iron works foundry? David"
I haven't heard of the casting history of the bandstand before this comment. Anyone know any more information about the Riley ironworks foundry? (Click here for my post about Riley Iron Works in Chas, SC).
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.
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.
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
