Outside at Last

Today was my first day this spring getting outside to paint.  It was marvellous... I found a quiet spot in the sun by a creek.  It was partially cloudy out and so I would occasionally have very bright sun on the view, followed by cloud cover.  As you can see in the 2 pics below - it can sure makes a difference to your colours and values when it is cloudy vs sunny.  I attempted to get the 'sunny' view - however - I made the mistake of bringing a canvas stained with a deep orange.  I think for my Plein air painting - a lighter warm colour (grey or Sienna) would be better.

Only wildlife, other than geese overhead, was this colourful fly who sat on my easel for a few minutes, warming up.  Would be cool to paint him, but he didn't stick around long enough.

 I did two fairly quick 'sketches' - one is the general view - very thinly done with thinner and oil - so the orange really shows through too much.  The other was just a 'sketch' of the little tree in front of me.  Both I 'erased' after to reuse the board for my next time out.  I just made sure to paint the panel a light grey for next time.

What to do... what to do...

Well... things have certainly changed in the last month... I am very blessed to be home and healthy with my family.  Being somewhat of an introvert, I find I am kind of used to spending time on my own, working on projects.  I do miss work, teaching the kids and getting out of the studio was a nice change of pace.  Hopefully we can all get back to our own 'normal' soon!

My attempt at creating a night time painting, with lights

I have been doing lots of cleaning, baking, homework nagging and a few paintings.  I have also been trying to improve on my 'weak' areas of painting - and it seems like there are several!  In doing so I have been sketching more and watching some instructional videos.  There are many great artists putting out instructional / on-line videos.  Streamline Art Videos have been my favourite so far.  Every day, they show a free 45 min to 1.5 hour portion of an instructors video.  If you like what you see you can buy and download an on-line full length version.  I had purchased Brian Blood, Shelby Keefe and Mike Hernandez in the past few years.  Today I downloaded Christine Lashley, to help me learn how to do night lighting effects.  Very informative! Although it may seem pricey - considering the cost of getting to a workshop is several times more expensive - I feel it is worth it.  I can pause and play it SEVERAL times, which I have done with all of them.  James Gurney is another favourite, he has tons of free stuff on his YouTube channel, including lots of outdoor - plein aire painting tips.  Happy painting and stay safe!