Author: francisco_silva

Plein Air Plus, a plein air juried exhibition in Long Beach Island

When: September 26, 2021
Where: Long Beach Island Foundation, 120 Long Beach Blvd, Loveladies, NJ 08008

This Sunday is the opening for this plein air competition and exhibition. There are two categories: “classic plein air” and “plein air plus”. The Long Beach Island Foundation (LBIF) gave the artists a two month span (July – September) to create these works; all had to be created on Long Beach Island. I have four, small plein air paintings in the “classic plein air” category. I’ll update this post with my final thoughts and overview of the competition after the opening.

Update 10/11/21: I exhibited four 8″x10″ plein air paintings for this exhibition and won an Honorable Mention for “Sun, Sand and Cellphone”. I’ll post this painting when I get it back from the exhibition as I didn’t have the foresight to photograph it beforehand.

The exhibition was well-attended but many of the artists. LBIF did a great job of hanging the show; the paintings and the exhibition space looked great.

Rutgers Arts: a plein air studio tour and fundraiser

When: October 2-3, 11am-3pm
Where: Rutgers Landscape & Nursery, 1051 US Highway 202, Ringoes, NJ 08551

Celebrate art, music, and community! Stroll the Nursery to meet artists creating on-site, each with work for sale. Blawenburg Bistro will be on hand with drinks and snacks for sale.

The event benefits Fisherman’s Mark, a Lambertville organization providing aid to area residents. Please bring contributions: non-perishable foods, diapers, personal hygiene items, and cleaning supplies.

This is a unique, fun event similar to “Art in Bloom” that happened in the summer. I’ll be plein air painting both days at this beautiful nursery and showing my work along with other artists

Visit RutgersLN.com or call 800-322-6008 for more info.

Update 10/11/21: This is a beautiful outdoor space to exhibit. It was sunny but hot. The nursery does a great job of setting up temporary walls where the artists can exhibit. The weekend was fun and I got a nice painting from the weekend to no sales… unfortunately. It was fun and I’ll participate in this event in the future.

“From Water” Exhibition at Atelier Rosal

From Water Artist Reception, Friday, August 20th 5-8pm

When: August 17 – September 11
Where: Atelier Rosal, 74 East Cherry Street, Rahway, NJ 07065

With The Rahway River Watershed Association holding their 1st annual Rahway RiverFest in Downtown Rahway, Atelier Rosal has curated works from local artists to expand the narrative and participate in the celebration of The Rahway River.Works by Joe Brown, Rodriguez Colero, Jim Fischer, Trish Gianakkis, Zev Jonas, Erin Karp, Debbie Livingston, Dave McGrath, Eric Miles, Harold Olejarz, and Francisco Silva will be featured.The exhibit will be on display from August 17th through September 11th. Gallery hours are 11-6pm Tuesday through Friday and 11-5pm on Saturday.Refreshments will be served during the reception. For your safety, Atelier Rosal asks that all guests follow CDC protocols and mask up during the event.

I have three plein air paintings in this exhibition. All of them having to do with water.

Update 8/20/2021: The reception was well-attended but not too crowded (which is nice during a pandemic). I was lucky enough to sell “New Hope Vibes” and “Bridge to PA” to the same collector! This is a great space with a two very friendly gallery owners. I exhibited here twice and have sold paintings both times.

“Inside Montclair” talks with the award winners of ViewPoints 2021 at Studio Montclair

Wayne Robbins of “Inside Montclair” interviews Susana Baker, director of Studio Montclair. He also interviews the first and third place winners and discusses their winning pieces. I won second place in this exhibition but was unable to make it to this video shoot as I was stuck behind a major accident on Route 78. Susan Baker discusses my two submissions in my absence.

My painting wins second place at the 2021 ViewPoints exhibit at Studio Montclair

When: April 23 – May 28, 2021
Where: Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ

My painting “The Benefits of Bias 2” won second place at the Studio Montclair’s “ViewPoints 2021” exhibition. I was lucky enough to have two paintings selected: “The Benefits of Bias 1” and “The Benefits of Bias 2“. Studio Montclair director Susana Baker begins by talking about the philosophy behind this yearly show and the juror, Eleanna Anagnos, discusses her approach to selecting all the works. This video walks through the entire exhibition highlighting some works and ends with the juror giving the awards. “The Benefits of Bias 1” was sold at this exhibition.

The Empowering: A Social Justice Exhibition at Art150 Gallery

When: Febuary 6 – March 21, 2021
Where: ART150 Gallery, Jersey City, NJ

This is a video by News 12 reporting on “The Empowering: A Social Justice Exhibition” organized by Pro Arts Jersey City. My oil painting titled “The Immigrants” is highlighted in the video. Kudos to artist Danielle Scott for curating this moving and thought-provoking exhibition.

Curatorial Talk: “Power, Privilege, and Everyday Life” at Studio Montclair

When: January 15 – February 19, 2021
Where: Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ

A curatorial talk by artist Theda Sandiford who curated this exhibition. The video walks us through the exhibition and then Theda talks about several artworks including my painting “The Lack of Privilege“. I was lucky enough to have my painting sold at the exhibition.

Oil painting techniques: learn how to “scumble” like a pro

Snowy Dawn oil painting by Francisco Silva
“Snowy Dawn” oil painting by Francisco Silva

Scumbling is an oil painting technique used by many painter’s throughout history. To achieve this technique, you apply a thin or transparent layer of paint over a dried layer of paint resulting in a visual, color combination of both layers.

Why you should use this technique

As artists, we’re always running into roadblocks during the painting process. Scumbling can be used as a potential solution during these times. You can use it to add depth by adding contrasting color layers if your painting is too monotone. Conversely, you can reduce contrast in an area with this technique.

How to start scumbling using oil paint

  • Begin with a dried base layer of paint.
  • You can use either a transparent color (like Perylene Red, Viridian Green, etc.) or “thin” out a paint color with a medium.
  • Apply the transparent color. I control the transparency by adding medium to achieve a thinner layer of oil paint.
  • You can apply more layers to deepen the color or add more layers of different colors. Pleas note that the more layers you add, the less the initial layer will be noticeable.

Scumbling examples

Detail of Turner’s painting “Sun Setting Over a Lake”. Click on the image to see the entire painting

Throughout the history of art, many painters have used this technique. In the detail above, I show how J.M.W. Turner used this technique. You can see the layers of different colors which add texture and depth to the painting. Additionally, the darker areas of this detail are achieved with scumbling. This is a common technique used by Turner.

Detail of “Snowy Dawn” by Francisco Silva

One of the challenges with this painting was to represent “snow” without using one flat “white” layer of paint. I achieved this by beginning with a light blue-green base layer. To this layer, I added a light blue layer that was lighter than the previous layer. In the third layer, I added a white (toned-down with gray) layer leaving me the option of using pure white very sparingly.

Summary

  1. Scumbling can be used as a solution to visually problematic areas in your painting.
  2. Use scumbling to add color depth.
  3. Use this technique to highlight an area or reduce a high-contrast area.
  4. Scumbling is a classic technique used by many painters of the past (J.M.W. Turner, Claude Monet).
  5. Scumbling adds an additional technique to your painting arsenal.

Do you scumble? How have you used it in the past? Please leave examples in the comments.