Hank Buffington

My son and I planted huge sunflowers along our driveway. The taller they get the more excited he gets.

Last week I went out painting with other members of the Lancaster County Art Association. We spent a few hours one evening at a local farm. I stood in a cornfield resisting the urge to paint every corn plant.

On Father’s Day I got to leave my backyard to paint. This is the Lake Clarke area of the Susquehanna River.

This was done just after the one above. This is from the Heritage Trail at the Highpoint Scenic Vista & Recreation Area overlooking the Susquehanna River. The painting above was done from a spot at the right edge of this one.

This is President James Buchanan’s Wheatland. This had a cadmium red tone on the canvas which is having an obvious effect.

I sort of bit off more than I could chew with this one. My kids had toys strewn all over the patio and by the time I got down to that part my time was just about up. I didn’t have time to finish the bush on the right but you can see the yellow ochre ground showing through. (6×8)

This one I did as fast as I possibly could. It took about 30 minutes. It had a raw umber ground. (5×7)

From the other day:

These two are small. The first one I painted with my son and daughter sitting on either side of me. Their constant questions (none about painting) and pestering and bickering made it a challenge so I decided to paint it again the next day while they were at school. Each took just under an hour.

I couldn’t paint today because it’s my son’s last day of kindergarten!!! and he has a short day.

Here are some recent plein air paintings I did while the twins napped. Note the majestic splendor of my backyard. I limit these all to an hour (or so) to help me work quicker and avoid noodling. Hopefully they will improve greatly as I do more. I’m really yearning for more of a view with more depth. I also want to try painting earlier or later (these are all done just before lunch time) to get different light — more sunny days would be nice for a change too.

My garage.

My hammock.

Down my driveway from my garage while it rained.

I painted this one this morning. You can see the pochade box I made. It does the job but I needed to carry all my supplies in another box. Not sure that I liked that. As much as I hate the legs on my French easel I really like that it carries all my junk and keeps it within reach.

I’ll take a better photo of the painting once it dries.

I’ve begun painting plein air again. It’s nice to be outside in the beautiful weather and it’s also nice to be painting from life again. I’m not sure if I’ll post any of the paintings (at least not the ones I’m doing right now) as they’re pretty wretched. I’m limiting myself to an hour per painting. I did have a painting buddy this weekend though:

Here’s one I did last week.

These are straight from the cameras without any adjustments. This shot is from my DSLR:

This shot is from the D10:

Overall I find the midtones to be overexposed in most shots. Some of the scene modes over-saturate colors. Other modes seem to wash out. I’m still trying to find a happy middle ground. Being a point-and-shoot that fits in my pocket I think I have lower expectations to begin with.

The grain doesn’t bother me much though it is more noticeable in shadows and lower light shots. I don’t blow up my images bigger than 4×6’s so it isn’t really a factor to me. It starts pretty fast. It’s shot-to-shot time could be quicker for me. I don’t use a flash much but it seems to be fine for my needs. I’ve never expected great things from any on-camera flash, not even my DSLR or SLRs.

Like other people have said in other reviews, I think with this camera I’ll be able to get shots in places and conditions that I ordinarily wouldn’t have been able to take my camera (without a great deal of precaution) so that’s a major factor. Also, it’s simple enough for my wife and 6 year old to use at the beach. And no sand problems! I’ve had it in the hot tub. No water problems. I plan on being caught out in the rain with it and also plan on taking it in my kayak.

I’m pretty happy with this so far and would recommend it to anyone with kids, anyone who goes to the beach or is outside a lot, and anyone who doesn’t want to be overly protective of their camera.

I got a new toy– I mean… useful tool. The Canon PowerShot D10. They claim it’s sand-proof, waterproof, snow-proof, impact-proof, etc. My son James will put those claims to the test. I’m anxious to see the picture quality since most reviewers have been pretty tough on these new “tough” cameras. I’ll post a mini review once I’ve shot a bunch of photos with it in case anyone is interested. Needless to say this will affect my painting time for a little bit

I’ve had the flu for the past couple of weeks so I don’t have any new work to post. I’m beginning to feel better and have resumed my normal schedule. I should have something to show shortly.