A PWAS Meeting with Guest Speaker Robert Dew
The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) met on Monday, January 27, 2025 at 7:30pm at the Tall Oaks Community Center in Woodbridge for our monthly meeting. Our wonderful guest speaker was a fellow member, Robert Dew who gave a great presentation on Plein Air Painting.
Plein Air Painting with Robert Dew
Robert's presentation on how he prepares to go out and paint out-of-doors was a well-received one! He described how he set up for oil painting and for watercolor painting and emphasized that you really do not need to spend a lot on supplies - especially if you are a beginner or if you are unsure if you will enjoy the experience of taking your art process outside.
Robert spoke of various experiences in different locations and painting while on vacation, then showed the artwork created when doing so. He gave a lot of great tips and suggestions including having a much smaller painting pack while traveling and the importance of taking plenty of pictures for several quite reasonable reasons: (1) the light changes every second making the process of painting quickly and loosely rather mandatory; and (2) when traveling with a nonartist friend, partner, or spouse, they may not be too keen on spending too much time in one spot! So a quick sketch or rough outline for a subject goes into one of his art journals.
The Q&A section of Robert's presentation had a lot of great questions including his painting surfaces, papers, and how he picks interesting angles and 'views' for his subject matter. And absolutely, he loves a beautiful sunny day for painting!
In
a recent blog post, I asked Robert how he stored all of his artwork. If
you follow Robert on Facebook, he is posting new artwork ALL the time -
rather amazing but as he has said, he tries to paint something every
day. In the colder weather, he may be indoors more often but when Plein
Air Painting, he will often get several pieces started - and will
occasionally complete them at home. See these links:
PWAS Meeting Guest Speaker Robert Dew Jan 27, 2025
Bluebells and the Plein Air Posse
Interested in Plein Air Painting? Often it is best to learn by just getting out there and doing it.
See suggestions for what you might need while Plein Air Painting but as stated above by Robert, don't invest a lot of money into the supplies unless this is definitely an art creation avenue you want to explore. Plein Air Painting Equipment and Supplies
In 2024, the Prince William Art Society started their PWAS Plein Air Posse (PPAP) group and Robert Dew and David Dillon are the leaders of this group of artists. They would be happy to extend the invitation to go out and paint to any PWAS members that would like to give it a try. Just contact them to see when and where works for everyone.
Contact Robert Dew rddew@live.com and David Dillion anarty1@comcast.net
As a matter of fact, the PPAP will be out painting at the Sunday, March 30, 2025 Bluebell Festival at Merrimac Farm located at 15020 Deepwood Lane, Nokesville, VA where PWAS will also have a table set up with artwork from our members for sale. You are very welcome to join the group of painters. Contact Robert and David if you are interested in painting there.
A big thank you to Robert Dew for this great presentation!
PWAS Business
After Robert Dew's Plein Air Painting presentation, the PWAS members broke for snacks and beverages, mingling with the visitors and fellow members, followed by the business portion for the group. The members learned about where we are, what's going on, what art events are coming up, and so much more.
Did you enjoy Robert's presentation as much as I did? Leave a comment below.
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
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How do you keep the sunshine from distorting your view of color? I tried painting outside once and was surprised to find, once I had got back inside, that my depiction of a muddy creek looked pink.
ReplyDeleteGreat question.Try to get in a shaded space, under a tree if possible or use an umbrella to give shade for your canvas and palette. This problem can also be overcome just with practice and getting used to adjusting the colors you see, but that is harder and takes time.
DeleteThanks!
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