This tiny gem of a painting simply shimmers. The spring flowers draw the viewer into the picture plane. Austin’s historic landmark, the Elisabet Ney Museum, is a tiny castle under a blue sky. A beautiful piece for any home.
Castle Elisabet
Tag: Plein Air Austin
Beachgate View $80
If you like the beach, try the view from Beachgate Condosuites and Hotel. Room 533 has a very nice one! Here is a plein air painting done on that very balcony by Arnica Grace. Unframed, it’s yours for just $80. Ships mounted on a board ready to be framed and hung in your favorite space.
The plein air method was popularized by the French Impressionists. “Plein air painting is about leaving the four walls of your studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing in the landscape. The practice goes back for centuries but was truly made into an art form by the French Impressionists. Their desire to paint light and its changing, ephemeral qualities, coupled with the creation of transportable paint tubes and the box easel—the precursor to the plein air easels of today—allowed artists the freedom to paint “en plein air,” which is the French expression for “in the open air.” –
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-subjects/plein-air/plein-air-art/
Brisk Dawn $160
Recently, Arnica Grace has been taking her studio out of doors for some fun, fresh paintings. Here is one example of aerial perspective working to harmonize gentle coloration. A play between violets and soft golds help the viewer feel the morning breeze in their hair. Layering of glazes and impasto technique is also used to create a sense of depth and texture, especially in the watery foreground.
Arnica Grace at the park
Austin has a ton of places to ramble around in, but you will find Arnica always coming back to Zilker Park for the Botanical Gardens. Even midwinter, there are birds, bees, and flowers, oh my!
When asked why she liked the Zilker Botanical Gardens so much, Arnica replied, “the first time Ithe cedar log bridge in the Japanese garden there, I must have been all of about fourteen years old. It was magical, it was marvelous, it was my first love. Rambling in the park found me face to face with the koi in the ponds, their glittery bodies sleekly swimming in the depths. I painted them with the first set of oil paints I had ever owned. It was fulfilling, fun, it was my first time to really see what paint could do for me.
Going back to the park lately, I went to the bridge. I climbed it again, slipping a bit, just as I had the first time. I visited the koi. They are truly monstrous these days, as large as my legs, boiling and roiling under the surface of the water, looking for the food the groundskeeper surely throws into the pond for them.
It was glorious, I am glad to have lived a life in the arts. I made a painting of the koi again, couldn’t help it really.”
So, if you keep your eyes peeled, you might run into Arnica rambling through the gardens again this springtime. A recent joiner to the Plein Air Austin organization, she says she hopes to enjoy their monthly meetups.
You can check out Plein Air Austin at this link: