Plein Air Paint Along Demo

Painting in Sullivan County, in the rolling hills near Callicoon. Perfectly lovely late Aug.day to be outdoors in this sea of green. Looking up at the trees at the left, the sky, and hills beyond. The challenge is the greens, and the fast moving clouds.

Limited Palette

- Warm and cool red Cadmium Red Medium and Alizarin
- Warm and cool yellow Cadmium Yellow Medium and Cadmium Lemon
- Warm and cool blue Cobalt and Ultramarine and White.

My beginnings are about gesture, and color spotting, with awareness of darker areas. Working on a toned surface this is my blueprint, sketch, layout of the painting. As I am outdoors, I hope to paint it in about 3 hrs on my 16" x 20" canvas. No bugs, no wind, clouds keep changing. I will have to capture them later, when I am ready to add all that white.

Perfect!

Moving the foreground into prominence, developing the hills. This palette allows for mixing a lot of greens - everyone’s favorite! The two blues and yellows in different combinations, and then additions to those mixes was great fun and offered a lot of variety. What a great color lesson.


Still developing the push/pull of the colors trying to and some of it back, with value, and temperature (warm/cool light/dark). This dance is my way of inching into my lightest lights, and darkest darks. My clarity develops along with the canvas.

Things start to look fuzzy and tonal, and then I have to re-draw and look for the elements of importance that define the painting. It is about finding the lights, and darks that tell my story. I do not make these determinations early in my work, only when I really SEE them. As I study and develop the color, and will clarify divisions of foreground, middle ground, and background.

My fun in mixing the color variety has overtaken my focus. Mid ground, needs to be cooler. Time to develop the sky. The heavy clouds are fast moving and very much a factor in the painting, which I have not addressed. Oops, and, where are the darkest darks?

The resolution of the sky, points up the need and strength of lights and darker areas of the painting. Finally, it happens only when I SEE these areas clearly as the painting develops.The graceful calligraphy of the trees adds height, and adds needed areas of darks for drama and clarity. Not too much needed.

My expressive brush stroking, as well as the variety of color in the strokes are techniques which interest me greatly. The impression is one of movement, freshness, and personal interpretation. This one practically painted itself. What fun is this!