Plein Air

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My sister Jackie gave me a very cool plein air umbrella for Christmas, and this was the first time I've had the chance to use it. It was a beautiful day and the umbrella was awesome! But my plein air skills are, well, let's just say they're not where I'd like them to be ;) Getting the values right outdoors is tricky. 

Jackie says my mountain looks like a melting ice cream cone. Ha, she's right--slight room for improvement here (oh, the possibilities! ;) Maybe I need a little more than an hour... or a smaller panel... or a thousand more hours of practice. If at first you don't succeed... 

Also, I don't know what the deal was with my paint, but it felt like I was painting with honey! It's been sitting in a backpack in the house for 5-6 months or so, but it was really really hard to handle. Maybe it was the cooler weather? Or my palette/canvas were sucking up the moisture? And let's just not get started on the drawing and colors, ha.

The nice thing about churning out a really bad painting is that (at least in theory), it should go better next time!

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