Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with Plein air painter Rachel Dowd and principal violist for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Derek Reeves.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

Rachel Dowd is an impressionist style plein air painter.

Plein air painting simply means the act of painting outdoors with the artist's subject in full view.

Rachel's goal is to capture the beauty of nature and everyday life through a palette and brush showcase the tranquility and joy found in the simplest moments.

We recently visited Rachel on her property outside Spencerville, Indiana, to learn all about the process behind plein air painting.

Rachel, thank you so much for inviting me to your studio, as it were.

First of all, this property is gorgeous.

I'm distracted by cows and chickens and all the beautiful things.

But what I really need to talk about is your beautiful art.

Tell me when you started painting.

Well, I've always been into art since I was a little kid.

I didn't really start painting seriously until about 2013.

I asked for a big set of acrylic paint and canvases and brushes and everything from my husband for Christmas.

And he got it for me, and I just picked it up from there, really, and kind of got into it at least every week, if not every day from that point on.

Prior to that, were you were you sketching?

Were you?

I mean, this just doesn't come out of nowhere.

Right.

I sketched a lot.

I mean, when I was a kid, I drew what kids like to draw.

I drew Disney characters and princesses and all that kind of stuff.

And then as I got older, I just I don't know.

I just wanted to capture the beauty that I saw and wanted to convey it as accurately as possible.

So I just kept trying and kept trying kept trying.

And it's just something that I really enjoy and I can't think of anything else other than, you know, my family comes first.

But other than that, you know, I, I think about drawing, painting, whatever I dream about it is I think about it all the time.

So it's just I guess it's just in me and I mean, I wasn't born with talent.

I just really wanted to get it right.

And so I wanted to get it as accurately as possible.

So I just kept trying until I was satisfied.

And I'm still not satisfied, so.

Okay.

Tell me about plein air.

Okay.

Plein air is basically painting outdoors.

It's the French kind of coined the term.

All it means is just painting outside and dealing with the bugs and the light changing and the rain and wild animals and the heat and the cold, the sunburn, the frostbite, all of that.

So it's it's a little bit of a sport and a lot of people do turn it into a sport.

They'll they'll hike for, you know, hours to the mountaintops.

And it's fun it's a sport, but it's very different than studio painting because everything changes, the light changes, the values change, and it's all trying to capture what you're seeing accurately and dealing with all these changing the changing environment, the changing colors, the changing shadow shapes and light shapes and everything all the time.

How how do you how are you able to, you know, to find the perfect spot and and composition and all that And then everything changes.

What then?

Well, usually I start with a value sketch.

And when I initially sketch out my my drawing on my canvas, I draw in the shadow shapes and the light shapes.

So even as it changes, I've got those lines to remind me of where the light was and where the shadow was.

And and I still might change it after the fact, but at least I've got, you know, like home base where I can keep going back to.

And that's one of the cardinal roles of plein air painting is you're not supposed to chase the light is what they say, okay, where your shadows just get longer and longer and longer, you know, and youre painting And then it just ends up getting muddy and messed up.

And it doesn't have that freshness that you initially started with.

So how long does a plein air painting typically take?

Because I would imagine it's not like a lot of artists I talk to who spend hours on a piece or is it?

It depends on the artist, but most plein air artists usually paint pretty quickly and in about probably less than 2 hours, 2 hours or less is probably the average.

I do know lots of artists who paint longer than that, or they'll go back to the same location the next day or the next day that there's similar light conditions and they'll bring their painting back out and paint on it some more.

Usually you have a two hour window where the light hasn't changed so dramatically that it's you're really just making it up after that point.

So I saw on your Instagram that you you I don't know if all the time, but you have a tool that helps you with your composition.

Tell me about that.

Yeah, it's called a viewfinder and it's just got little doors that you can fold down and they're all different aspect ratios.

So you have, you know, an eight by ten is a 3 to 4 aspect ratio.

You know, a square is obviously a 1 to 1 aspect ratio.

So you just pick the the ratio that you need for whatever panel size that you have and you can hold it up and you can kind of see seen framed up before you start painting, because it's hard to imagine what it would look like in a painting when you've got everything around you.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

So what is it about painting in the setting that is appealing to you?

Because so many artists that I talked to work from a photo or or just from their brain.

So what is it about being in the environment that is appealing?

It's almost like a diary entry because, you know, you're you're it's an experience.

So you're capturing an experience that you're something that you see, something you feel the wind and or the rain or, you know, anything that might be going on.

I am just always attracted to the light and how the light filters through the trees, how the light falls on the grass, how I mean anything I can paint, anything as long as the the light is is attractive and very interesting to me.

Color usually draws me.

Is there a specific type of paint that lends itself to plein air, or is there only one that is used?

Oh, no.

People use all kinds of mediums.

They oil paint, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, pastel.

There's a lot of different plein air artists.

I think oil is typically your traditional plein air medium just because that's what people use the most, in the beginning of artistry.

And what is your preferred medium?

Oil.

I do use goua che outside sometimes, though, too, but those are mostly sketches and in very small paintings.

So, so many artists tell me that a big challenge is knowing when a piece is finished.

Mm hmm.

Does being a plein air painter sort of eliminate that problem?

Do you?

Is it clear when you're done?

I definitely have a feeling when I'm getting close to being done and I have to judge whether or not you know, that last mark is going to push it over the edge or not.

So it is very much the same.

But I don't think it's difficult being a plein air artist to know when to stop just because when the painting's working and it's done and it's reading well and it says what I want it to say, it doesn't have to be.

Every detail does not need to be filled in.

I like leaving a little bit of ambiguity.

I like people seeing my paintings and kind of interjecting their own memories and their own ideas of where I might have painted or, you know, it might remind them of something that they saw when they were a kid or a place that they went when they were on vacation or something, even if it's not where I painted.

Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't really matter.

Oh, the sun is out.

I know.

I think its out to stay now.

Yes, we before we started shooting, it was so overcast.

And you were saying you hoped that the sun would come out?

Yeah.

So you could paint.

Yeah, I love that.

Okay.

In 2013, when you asked for paints and canvas.

Mm hmm.

Did you have any inkling that you would become a full fledged artist and that your life would become what it is?

No, I think it's just something that I really wanted.

Yeah, It didn't really matter where it went.

I wasn't really aiming for anything in particular other than being able to paint the way I wanted to paint and capture what I wanted to capture and say what I wanted to say on the canvas.

So.

What is the hardest part of of creating art for you?

The hardest part is probably just the unknown.

When you get started on a painting and it's you want so bad to capture this scene a certain way and well, is it going to come out right or is it not going to come out right?

And it happens both ways.

So it can be a very good day or a very bad day.

What's the best part of being an artist?

I just like capturing beauty and and getting it down on canvas.

And and I like I love seeing people look at my work and really be able to convey a memory or something that means a lot to them through that painting.

And I like that people have such a personal response to my work.

A lot of times it's very satisfying.

Rachel It has been so lovely to be out here on your property and to talk with you and really to dig into your work because it's just beautiful.

Thank you for taking the time today.

I really enjoyed it and thanks for coming.

For more information, visit Rachel Dowd Fine Art dot com I am joined now by the principal violist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Derek Reeves.

Derek, thank you for taking the time today.

I read that you started playing.

Was it the violin or the viola?

I started on the violin at two and a half.

That is correct.

What in the world?

I have a two year old, and the thought of him picking up an instrument in six months blows my mind.

Tell me.

Well, you know, it was not pretty at first.

It's not like I sounded all that good at two and a half.

I started the process, but it was a group lesson.

So?

So if, you know, as you know, dealing with children that young is kind of can be kind of like herding cats sometimes.

Yeah.

Initially, the children learn by ear through imitation in the Suzuki method, which was what I was utilizing at the time.

It uses the mother tongue concept.

And so the idea that music, among other native sounds that surround children all the time can be internalized and emulated and repeated in much the same way that a child learns to speak language.

Wow.

Do you remember the point at which you thought, Oh, I really like this?

Because I imagine at two and a half it was parents influence or something saying, Let's get you started here, but maybe not by your own free will.

I remember the exact moment my teacher played a G major chord on her violin and I saw this flash of color, which later on I found out was something that they call synesthesia when people can actually see sound.

But from that moment, I was hooked.

I wanted to find out how to be able to make those sounds I was all in.

That is fascinating, and I've never heard of that.

How old were you?

The first two and a half.

Three years old.

That's incredible.

Okay, so you you pick up the violin at two and a half.

Tell me about kind of the road that that came after.

Well, it involved lots of practicing and lots of lessons.

Lots and lots of hours of practicing.

So I was in the Suzuki method for there are ten books.

It's a graded curriculum that get progressively more difficult as the student progresses.

And I got through all of those books and was hungry for other repertoire, and so just started learning more and more challenging things and started and just began the long process of improving.

Along the way, I discovered other mediums of making music, orchestral music, for example, chamber music, you know, pieces for violin, viola and piano and then later on for viola, of course.

When did you realize, okay, this is it, I'm not going to be a professional skateboarder I'm going to I'm going to go to school and and really make this my career.

I think it was fifth grade.

I think I was in fifth grade when I when it kind of dawned on me.

We were at a at Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra concert, and it dawned on me that these people were getting paid to play music.

I was just kind of a no brainer as far as I was.

I was like, Wait a second, you're telling me I can play my violin, I can play violin or viola or because I didn't really know what a viola was at the time I can play the violin and people pay me to do that.

Yeah.

Okay, Sign me up.

Im in.

Did you ever have that moment internally or because of external voices saying, Yeah, you can get paid, but it's not a real job?

Well, I mean, you always have have naysayers, but.

But I never paid them any mind.

Good for you.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you went to IU, studied music study, then got your masters, correct?

Yes.

Bachelor's and master's.

And then you knew that you were going to join an orchestra or what?

What did you feel like your trajectory was going to be?

Yeah.

I always loved leading the violin section.

I had a lot of concertmaster experience.

I was concertmaster of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic when I was still in at IU, and I was assistant concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic.

And so I just saw as I saw that as kind of my my, my destiny to to lead violin sections in the orchestra.

Okay.

What brought you to Fort Wayne and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic?

Well, that's an interesting question.

I was when I first had the epiphany that I that I wanted to be a violist.

I moved to I moved back to Indianapolis and started freelancing and studying and practicing.

And so Fort Wayne was one of those places that I was freelancing before I had had a contract here.

And then there was an opening.

It was a section opening.

And I auditioned for it and I won it.

And then shortly thereafter, the principal position opened up because the principal of yours at the time, her husband won a position with the Baltimore Symphony.

He was a percussionist.

Okay.

And so they left, thus vacating the principal position.

I auditioned for that and won that, and here I am.

The rest is The rest, as they say, is history.

Yeah, I love hearing that because we are so, I don't think this city realizes how lucky we are to have the Phil So it's very cool that with all the opportunities that I'm sure presented themselves that you came here.

Okay.

Tell me about teaching, especially knowing that you started so young.

What is it like to have little young, eager minds ready to learn?

It's one of the things that I love most about what I do, because it is so important for creative artists to give back because that is what perpetuates the art form.

That's what continues the love of what we do for generations to come.

And so I love sharing that and seeing that recognition, that glimmer, that spark.

The second that this a student gets something and it could be anything, it could be watching a string vibrate or the realization that they can change the pitch just by where they put their finger.

And just to see that recognition of all these possibilities that are suddenly awakened in their minds, there's there's no feeling like it.

What has music art taught you about yourself?

Wow, that's an excellent question.

And it's not a simple one to answer, because it has taught me really everything about myself.

It's taught me things about myself, but it's also taught me about the world.

You know, It's taught me things about everybody else.

Yeah.

You know, it's it's taught me that we have so much more in common than we have, which separate us.

It's taught me that with hard work, anything is achievable.

But also anything complicated can be made simple.

I'm going to have to take your word for that, because I don't know.

I think that I think that it's possible to find the logic and the simplicity in the most complex structures.

I love that thought.

Derek, I could talk to you all day.

Thank you so much for bringing beauty and an art to to the community.

Thank you for teaching young people and thank you for sitting down with me.

Will you do me the honor of playing a bit?

I would be delighted.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

For more information, find Derek Reeves on Facebook.

Our thanks to Rachel Dowd and Derek Reeves.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

You can catch this and other episodes at PBS Fort Wayne dot org or through our app.

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Thank you for watching.

And in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.