June WC #11-8 Ball Trail #2

I decided to plein air paint at the last-minute. I am so glad that I always have my supplies and equipment ready. This time around I sprayed myself thoroughly with mosquito spray but found it barely protected me, the mosquitos were out in full force. I was so intent on painting that I barely noticed though I did find that I scratched my knee raw while painting.

Painting #1 Fabriano 140# 7 x 9 inches

I made a mistake of taking photos of these paintings after I took them off my boards, it was difficult to make nicely cropped edges. This painting has many problems, the foreground was dark but I painted it too dark here.

#2 Arches 140# 7 x 9 inches

There is something that I like in this one, in particular the foreground mixture of warm and cool colors. There is more of a depth in this that I am failed to capture in my prior paintings June WC #9. I do believe that I was focusing so hard in trying to capture the light that I failed to build layers of foliage and trees to create depth. In this one, I worked towards it simply by making myself do it, I know that sounds weird.

#3 Arches 140# 7 x 9 inches

 

 

 

I really like how I was able to capture some of the trees in this (#3). I struggled with trying to bring some sunset-lit branches into the scene. They came out as lumpy masses. I think that I need to have a light, glowing watery mixture to pull it off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#4 Fabriano 300# 10 x 14 inches

I made the big mistake of having two trees kiss in the upper right of the painting. I didn’t plan out the adequate space and as it was happening, I was silently screaming. I was having so much fun with the colors and within seconds I messed it up. Darn. I lost steam at that point and decided to call it an evening. I will simply turn it over and use the other side for another painting.

On my way home I spotted a fox eating fruit in my garden

 

My learning points:

• Don’t allow the task of one difficulty to overpower the rest of the painting, in this case, my building up a sense of depth because I was trying for sunset color.
• warm, cool colors against each other but not in equal portions bring drama and tension in a painting (correct tension)
• No kissing allowed between elements.
• Make sure when painting trees to give adequate room and planning to avoid having them kiss, very smart indeed.
• Keep returning to paint this evening location until I get it and learn what I need to learn.
• Take my mosquito spray in the future for back-up.