Thursday, June 26, 2014

Bear Mountain Bridge, Oil, 8 x 10"

I put aside my ocean/waves scenes for the plein air season (outdoor painting) which started a little while ago. I try to go as often as possible. It's challenging because on top of painting the scenery in a limited time you also have to deal with other elements: equipment, winds, sun, rain, terrain, bugs, wildlife, people who want to chat...   but it's the best way to learn how to see.

The conditions are changing fast and after 2 hours the initial scene looks completely different. So even though I limit my painting size to 8 x 10" I rarely finish a painting in one session. So if I feel the start has any potential, I may go back to the scene or try to finish it from memory and photographs (and the result is still not guaranteed :-). Otherwise I put it aside for a while (on the stack) and simply use it as a learning experience. Well... let me just stay that the "learning" stack is getting taller faster than the "finish" stack. You will probably not see those...

Here's one that I painted in the morning and finished in the studio from memory in the afternoon.

"Bear Mountain Bridge", Oil, 8 x 10"


2 comments:

BJ said...

This one definitely deserves to be in the "finish" stack. In spite of all the distractions, plein air seems a very nice way to learn.

JohanneMorinFineArt said...

Yes, and it's great to be outside!