Blog

Watch as Kentucky Appalachia Outdoor Painters paint in plein air in watercolor, pastel and oil and enjoy sharing and learning together.

We gather at a classic entrance to the Appalachia Mountains. I love what the "Welcome to Estill County" sign says: "Where the Bluegrass kisses the mountains."
That should be the slogan for our gathering of artist friends who have been painting outdoors together for three years since it started with Debbie Billips suggesting a group for Eastern Kentucky and me saying I'll be there.
We went from two to about 22 very rapidly and today we had hostess Jennifer Prewitt, Vicki Wenz, Lori, Debbie and me.
This is the beautiful property of the grandparents of Jennifer's husband. His grandfather was chief operating officer of Carhartt for years.
Carhartt's web site gives this history: Four sewing and cutting facilities are still operating in Kentucky and Tennessee to this day, and the original Irvine, Kentucky factory – completed in 1932 – now houses the operations center for Carhartt’s supply chain.
There are so many scenes like this that we Kentucky Appalachia painters get to paint from life, the rolling hills, the blue mountains in the background and, in my case, a foreground knob.
Stick around to the end where I show a timelapse of the complete pastel painting from start to finish. I learned how to tone down the bright reds and oranges of fall that are just too saturated from a single pastel stick.
I use NuPastel and Sennelier pastels and converted my Strada box from oils to amazingly fit all my pastels in one handy spot for outdoor painting.
Check out my website for a gallery of paintings and all 119 videos:https://www.rogersnell.com
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I’m the author of two books:https://www.rogersnell.com/books
I am a member of Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky and the Kentucky Appalachia Outdoor Painters.