La Caille, An Oasis in the Woods

Eight artists braved the beauty of La Caille, a restaurant located 
at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Sandy, Utah (someone 
had to suffer...ha-ha).

Painting on the grounds of La Caille was like stepping onto 
the pages of a story book. It's rolling hills, stoney paths, water 
fountains and beautiful flowers were stunning. I half expected 
to see a princess walk out from one of the cottage-like structures. 
There were screaming peacocks, swans, geese, rabbits, roosters 
and other critters.

It was like being in a fairy tale. Perfect for plein air painting! 

 

We started out at 9:00 am, found individual places to set up 

and began our workshop.

 

 

Today was all about learning to control a palette knife.  

It would have been easy to use a brush, but I decided to 

have the students focus their efforts solely on knife work. 

It was a challenge for them to find the balance between 

not using enough paint and spreading too much paint on 

their canvas.

 

 

There were many details in the surroundings (like hanging 

flower baskets, ducks and garden sculpture), and we found 

it hard to remember to simplify our compositions. It was a 

real test in learning how to edit!

 

 

The first assignment was to complete a value study 

(monochromatic) of each composition.

After the value studies had been completed, we began our 

color studies. May I just say that it felt like there was never 

enough time to complete any of the paintings in this four-hour 

workshop!

 

 

Having a value study to use as a reference was helpful when

the art principle of color was introduced.  We could look back

and forth between the value study and the color study to make 

sure the values were similar.

Introducing color added a level of complexity to our work. 

Selecting a value was relatively easy when we were painting 

with only one color. Having to determine the value of each new 

color required concentration and accurate observation! 

There was a lot of scraping and re-applying of the paint!

 

 

I was proud of the way in which the students worked. 

They didn't complain, they stayed focused and they 

produced some great work!

When I first began to plein air paint with a knife, my 

results were disastrous! I thought I was a pretty good 

artist but when I got out in the field (literally) and 

compared my first plein air paintings to those of the 

professionals in my group, I was embarrassed at the 

results of my efforts. I threw my first few plein air 

paintings in the dumpster (that was a mistake), 

however I stuck with it, improved my skills and I am 

seeing some success now.

It was worth the effort! 

Think of today's workshop as an exercise. Plein air 

painting is like everything else; it takes practice! Read 

some books on plein air and palette knife painting, 

take a few classes, but mostly - just paint. Add your 

brushes back into your plein air supplies with your 

palette knives. Combine the control of a paint brush 

with the spontaneity and liveliness of your palette knife.

Keep your plein air paintings in a box somewhere 

and in a year or so - get the old paintings out and 

see how much you have improved. Have some fun! 

Happy painting!!