The conditions seemed to change from moment to moment. When we first started out it was cloudy, a bit gray and looking like it might rain. As we painted, the sun came out and pretty much stayed out. The wind began to pick up in intensity, making it difficult to make sure that palettes, paper towels, the easel and sometimes yourself from blowing away.
I have shipped my "easy" plein air set up out to New Mexico in anticipation of painting at Kevin Macpherson's workshop, so I had to use my old French easel. It was amazing to see the difference in the amount of time it took to set up the French easel. Also, it made me realize how wobbly my French Easel is. I'm so very glad I invested the money in the tripod, pochade box set up.
At one point the wind blew and if I didn't know better I would have sworn someone opened the door to a blast furnace! The signs of things to come--as we were expecting to get thunderstorms that evening.
The painting session itself was very enjoyable. I started out working on the focal point of the painting, then worked in all areas of the canvas board around it. I grabbed a general color family first then refined after I got most of the painting painted.
The work and focus on color mixing has been very helpful and I think it shows on this painting. Of course, standing waaaaaaaayyyyyyy back when looking at it also helps! Overall, I really liked this painting and for the first time in a long time felt I was successful in capturing what I wanted to capture. The creek wasn't an especially inviting color, being spring here in Ohio which has had a lot of rain, it was a very muddy dark green with little reflections. I played up more reflections as part of my artistic license!
Here's the finished result. I hope to return to this scene in a number of weeks. I'm hopeful the creek will be clear and I can capture the scene with a clear running creek and blue sky reflecting in it.
That's all for now...
Linda
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