Saturday, March 3, 2012

Plein Air and Miscellaneous

I'm gearing up for a return to plein air.  I'll be out tomorrow, Sunday.  Get in touch if you want to know where.  It's supposed to be in the 80's, after a cold, blustery few weeks.  I'm planning a major painting assault on the wine country, as soon as the vines bud out.  Paint-outs and plein air classes.  Let me know if you want on the list for updates.  I don't post where we're going until after we've been.

I'm painting today on a 20 x 24" landscape of the Sedona red rock.  I started it awhile ago and ran into design problems. Yes, think twice, paint once. Looking at it yesterday, I saw a way out of the impasse.  We'll see.  Dogs walked, check.  Breakfast yogurt down, check.  Palette clean and ready, check. Go.

PS, I want to go back to Sedona. I'm adding it to the paint-bucket list.

The Plateau was beautiful, warm and balmy with a gentle breeze.  The small amount of green in the grass from recent rains made the color palette so different from December.  It was Sunday, so there were horses, dogs and mountain bikes everywhere.  Wonderful.


Wednesday looks like rain, so we may do a studio day or push the paint-out to Thursday or Friday.  Watch this post for details.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Claude Monet at Work

This is footage of Claude Monet painting his water lily pond at Giverny.  He is working on a very large canvas, but notice the two white umbrellas that diffuse the light on his canvas and palette.  The brim of his hat also helps him see color.

Notice how often he looks at the scene.  Each time he looks at the scene he makes only one or two brushstrokes and then looks again.  Observe, observe, observe!