Plein Air

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6x6", oil on canvas panel, 4/20/16

Aside from the steaming bag of dog poop 10 feet away (I really wish I would have spotted it BEFORE setting up, painting, and taking down--such a pleasant day apart from that occasional whiff of what is that!? ;), this was actually pretty fun. (And people, if you bother to pick up the poo, please at least walk it over to the garbage can. Really). 

I like painting from life, though like other living things I've encountered, nature doesn't stand still. There's something invigorating about painting in real time, though, as opposed to staring at a static photograph. I really needed a little break from that special kind of tedium.

My main focus was trying to match value/color here. Drawing was a bit secondary (and I left out the fence and row of houses on the horizon there. It seems you have to be a bit selective when doing landscape painting--especially when painting this small. There's just so much out there.

Note to self: next time, bring the titanium white. The "mixing white" I was using wasn't looking very white, no matter how much paint I piled on. I'm not used to transparent-ish white. And today the clouds were a definite brilliant white.

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