Today's Plein Air Painting
Missed painting with the Mason group on Monday, so today I met them in back of Gallery 42 for a plein air (outdoor) painting day downtown. It sure was a beautiful day for it!
Chuck Marshall wants us to paint on the city streets to give visibility to art and artists in Mason. So we agreed to work strictly on site -- no photos, even for reference. It's funny because a group of children came by and talked to me and one boy wanted to know why I didn't just take a photo and paint from that. I could honestly say that, in spite of the rules we set for ourselves today, no photo could ever capture what I was seeing in the bright summer sunshine and I think the painting reflects that. Could this have been painted on anything but a bright, sunny June morning?
Still fighting with the "oriental rug" syndrome (too fragmented) and I know this painting would have been better had I quit about 45 min sooner. I should have. Had to quit when I did because despite using a wet palette and spraying my acrylic paints, they totally dried up on me and I literally didn't have any paint left! Had fun though.
Something's wrong with my Olympus C-5500 Zoom digital camera. There's a "soft spot" in all the photos I've been taking, so I'll have to get it fixed or get a new camera.
Still working on composition for the "Idaho homestead" painting and two very large canvases. One will be another Roebling Bridge and the other either Music Hall or the Ascent as a vertical.