Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Plein aire painting from Puerto Rico trip

Painting on location can be very challenging.  For me, the biggest challenge is that I prefer to sit while I paint, and in a perfect world, I would bring a large table, a comfortable chair, and a cooler with cool beverages.  Of course, I need to keep it simple and light for carrying; so instead, I bring a fold up chair, hold my painting on my lap, and bend over to the ground to get paint from my palette.  I did something different this time, though, and it really helped.  I did a wet wash ahead of time, and let it dry before painting on location with it.  I also found that if I took a photo of the scene, and then drew from the camera image, that I could draw the scene lots more successfully!  Thank you, modern technology!  I did this painting while on a wonderful painting trip with 6 other artists.  There were palm trees everywhere, so I decided to do my abstract version of them.  I'll always remember the perfect sunny day, the sounds of kids on kayaks nearby, and the peace that I felt painting this scene.  A great big "thank you" to Jim Turner, my friend who owns a house on Puerto Rico, and graciously invites me to come paint with many other artists there.  This was our second time there, and we had a wonderful time, escaping the Minnesota winter for a week.

2 comments:

  1. and that is one of my favorite paintings of yours... (like I can really choose...) I think plein aire agrees with you! (and not with me....)

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  2. Your abstract palm trees are fantastic! Plein aire your style.

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