“We spend a lot of time looking at it, what do we want to paint, what’s the focal point, what’s the area of interest,” explained Kristin Hosbein, a fine artist.
Then her paint brush meets the canvas to begin to translate what she sees in front of her during the first ever Paint Grand Traverse: A Plein Air Affair.
“It started with impressions in France, when paint could go in tubes they could take it outside, so that’s what they started doing,” she said.
She’s surrounded by the same landscape she is bringing to life.
“This area is spectacular because you have the layers of vineyards and trees and water and distance, where some other places might not have that drama,” she said.
A dramatic scene calls for dramatic colors.
“Mixing the color, the mud, I call it,” said Hosbein. “Like musical notes, the high notes, the low notes, the fast notes, the slow notes, so we alternate between colors that way.”
People were invited to watch as 44 artists from coast to coast filled the patios of three Northern Michigan wineries.
“They’re capturing these landscapes and water ways that are so iconic to our region, but for me, as a local person, it’s so cool to see these views that we see every day, and fortunate to see these views every day kind of reinterpreted and seen through their eyes,” said the associate director of Crooked Tree Arts Center, Megan Kelto.
They’re all seeing the same gorgeous green and blue view over the vineyard, but each tiny detail and flick of their wrist makes them stand out against one another.
“You can have 40 artists painting the same scene and they’ll all paint it differently,” she said.
That ability to trade tricks along the way is part of what makes the experience complete for Kristin.
“Always fun because you get to get together and you get to talk paint,” she laughed. “We say we ‘fling paint’ and we talk about supplies or structures or mediums.”
She hopes the finished product gives people the same sense she feels as the paint brush glides across what used to be an empty canvas.
“I hope it makes them happy because it makes me really happy, and I think artists translate their energy into the canvas,” she said.
Her work will be available on Saturday.
For the full schedule for Paint Grand Traverse, click .
For more of Kristin Hosbein’s work, click .
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