The Ireland experience: Let the world be your studio

By Serena Rosencrantz

There I was on my knees in breathless wonder of one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen in my world travels. The clean fresh air, the cool beautiful emerald and ultramarine waters, the big sky and soothing ocean waves made watercolor painting a natural and struggle-free response.

We traveled to paint the stunning seascapes and villages of Dingle, Doolin, and Dublin , Ireland . Painting for 12 days, with beautiful scenery, gourmet meals, a first class private coach, and four-star lodging, the artist had little to nothing to worry about except the layout and design of the next composition. Truly a fabulous, memorable, and remarkable opportunity for any artist, beginner to advanced. We painted each day under the direction and guidance of Professor Rob Erdle of Watercolor Worldwide, Inc., offering year-round worldwide painting excursions for over 20 years. Painting excursions are designed to inspire, delight, and explore the plein air style of painting, using the beauty of the environment to breathe life into the creative process. Watercolor Worldwide adventures are geared for beginner to advanced watercolor artists.

We painted seacoasts, ports, caves, castles, archeological monuments, pastures, monasteries, and burial grounds, and had opportunities all along the way to photograph for later inspiration in the studio.

Traveling to the Blasket Islands by small ferry, an adventure in itself, all painting gear wrapped in rain wear, we were just inches from the beautiful emerald waters we'd admired from miles away. While traveling two or three venues each day, we were given daily demonstrations and witnessed the process of creating plein air masterpieces from start to finish.

As a traditional artist with a classical background, the plein air painting demands were especially challenging, but deeply rewarding. The challenges of adapting to the ever-changing environmental conditions, and setting up “studio” in a variety of settings for limited amounts of time, served as a catalyst for finding a way to express impressions with fluidity and confidence. The rugged southwestern coast of Ireland functioned as our textural palette, offering different opportunities for painting over somewhat extreme conditions, making the painting process a particularly lively experience: painting up in a cloud, with brisk winds and cold mist. We used rocks gathered from the site to hold our papers down, tarps to set up on, raincoats and umbrellas to shield us from the shifting winds and drizzle. Funny thing about our location work, we always had what we needed. We were in the moment and keen on our environment. Hard for the brush to hesitate or lollygag about while getting each stroke laid down efficiently, recording the most important information only. The results of painting in such conditions were absolutely amazing, with the environment and scenery dictating the direction of every shape, stroke, character, color and impression.

While painting with Professor Erdle, observing his creative approaches, techniques, and processes, I learned that painting is extraordinarily personal. I experienced the most freedom ever as an artist, being outside of the conventional studio, painting in watercolor plein air style, recording my initial experiences and impressions. We were instructed in composition, color, and technique, while experiencing the visual joys of fresh, clean, beautiful watercolor. Professor Erdle's daily painting demonstrations served as a major guide and lift-off point for many of our own creations and expressions.

Each morning after a wholesome breakfast, we gathered our gear to have ready for the next destinations. We packed for the day's painting adventure with our all weather gear, tarps, a camera, several different kinds of paintbrushes, half sheets of rough 300 lb. and 140 lb. paper, tubes of watercolors, palette, water, water container, paper towels, clips, and painting board. My Ireland palette was actually laid on the first day of painting, using intense, transparent, and opaque colors altogether, pure colors as well as rich combinations of earth tones, neutralizing tint, and gray. After about three days of on-site studio set up, I managed to have everything simply packed in my tarp in such a way that I could easily set up and take down studio in a matter of seconds.

Most days the conditions were favorable and we could thoroughly soak up hours of natural, magnificent beauty. We lived an artist's delight under comfortable temperatures and sunny skies. We cruised from one destination to another in our private coach, a small touring van that trudged along small rural narrow roads.

For spontaneous stops, we would pull off to the side of the road and search out a prime painting spot and simply set up and paint away. We always had interesting set-ups. Some were along stone walls, like Slea Head on the Western Tip of Dingle Peninsula, while another was atop huge round lavender, green, and gray boulders resting in the cove of a pink peninsula beach. One of my most favorite painting stops was above Doolin, off a small shoulder of the narrow rural roadside. We stopped the coach and made our way over a small fence to a huge, freshly mowed field overlooking a majestic old castle, with skirting fields and mountain ranges of the coastline. We set up studio, spread out on acres of green, ochre, and umber land. The paint dried quickly in most places, and we had time to complete several compositions each day.

While we may have shared the same view, each of us had our own interpretation, palette, and style. We were able to quickly experiment with technique, and share each of our discoveries with one another, gaining a greater learning curve that is hard to find painting in the studio alone.

Having produced many paintings on this adventure, each of us were able to cultivate and maintain a cadence, creating spontaneously and letting go of the expectation to document a preconceived and predictable response.

***

The artists who participated in this excursion -- Prof. Rob Erdle, Dudley Bayne, Jane Bayne Millie Giles, Evan Quiros, Mary Quiros, and Serena Rosenkrantz -- will exhibit their work at the Laredo Center for the Arts September 4-28. An artists' reception will be held Saturday September 4, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Prof. Erdle will offer a three-day watercolor workshop focusing on the creation of cloud formations and the skies found in South Texas . The workshop is open from beginner to advanced watercolorists with individual assistance, and is being presented in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition.

For more information about classes or exhibitions, please contact the Laredo Center for the Arts at (956) 725-1715.or visit www.laredoartcenter.org. For more information about Watercolor Worldwide, visit the website at www.watercolorworlwide.com.