Tag: Nocturnes | Marc Dalessio

Oil painting of a birch grove in Plyos, Russia.

Birch Grove. 60 x 80 cm, oil on canvas.

Here are a few more paintings from my two weeks in Plyos, Russia. The weather has been really uncooperative, with rain and/or wind pretty much everyday.

Green Noise is the name of the cultural exchange event here in Plyos. This year is eight ‘Italian’ plein air painters working together with eight Russian artists. The exhibition of our work opened yesterday and will be on display until mid-October.

Rain, Plyos. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

We went out as a group to paint nocturnes in the rain on a few occasions.

The Bridge in Plyos, Nocturne. 25 x 35 cm, oil on panel.

Evening, Plyos. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

plein air landscape painting of autumn trees in Plyos, Russia

Autumn Trees. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Below is the updated version of the trinket seller, I needed to change the value on her shawl.

oil painting of a trinket seller in Plyos, Russia.

Trinket Seller. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

We had a lot of fun in the evenings, drinking vodka with the Russian artists and discussing painting and painters. There are a lot of great artists working today in Russia and I’ll post some links to their work in the future.

In the meantime, here is a short video of us painting in the common room one evening:

Oil painting of an accordion player in Russia.

Accordion Player. 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Since the days are so short here in Zagreb (and I’m losing my mornings to language classes), I’ve been trying my hand at plein air nocturnes lately.

The Bar at Zvijezda (2011). 20 x 30 cm, oil on panel.

Last winter I tried one nocturne of the small bar around the corner from my house. The idea was to sketch the composition in pencil and then begin the lay-in on site. However, for the bulk of the work I had the painting elsewhere and, in the evenings, I would stop and try to memorized the view and then paint later from memory. It was like sight-sizing from a block away. The idea was based on the quote by Degas about memory drawing:

“If I were to open an academy I would have a five-story building. The model would pose on the ground floor with the first-year students. The most advanced students would work on the fifth floor.”

This year I’m more prepared. These new clip-on LED lights work very well, and have a much cooler light than the ones you could buy, years ago, when I last tried plein air landscape painting at night. The brand I’m using is Mighty Bright from Santa Barbara, CA and I have the two pronged ones they make for orchestra conductors. (Edit: As Jerry Campbell commented, these lights can be slightly blue. I also found myself compensating to knock down the oranges. Pushing the light right up to the canvas warms it up a bit, but if anyone one has a suggestion for a more neutral plein-air-at-night lighting solution, I’d love to hear it).