Thursday, August 19, 2010

New DVD from Margaret Carter Baumgaertner - Painting The Plein Air Portrait

I have wanted to view this DVD for months, but have been so crazy busy (selling my house, moving to a smaller place and subsequently spending hours hunting for things on a daily basis) that it has taken a back seat until now!

In the photograph above, you can see a rundown of the contents of the DVD, filmed by Baum Squad Productions. The footage I have watched so far has been clear and well edited.

This DVD fills a gap in the market for art instruction videos by addressing painting outdoors in a colorist/impressionistic fashion, following in the footsteps of artists such as Monet, Sorolla and many others.

Ms. Baumgaertner (also known as Peggy) trained with Cedric Egeli, whose teacher was Henry Hensche of The Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown.

In this DVD series, she explains how to capture the light key, initially with colored blocks and then by painting a little girl in sunlight.  The beginning of the painting process, after a charcoal drawing is dividing the subject into areas that are in the light and shadow. Peggy, an accomplished painter and teacher, uses an extensive palette (over 20 tubes) and does all her mixing (other than to match value) on the canvas rather than the palette.

For more information, here is the website to peruse:  http://www.baumportraits.com