Plein air painting forces one to "think on his/her feet," meaning the ability to make decisions in process. Never has this been one of my personal strengths. I need time for ideas to incubate.
Don't throw something in my lap at the last minute. The result will not be my personal best. When confronted with a scene like this with early morning light, I am excited yet anxious. I'm excited because the scene has so much potential, and I want to do it right. However, the early light is so fleeting, and I have to make snap decisions and work fast. Consequently, I end up with a lot of mistakes. There is comfort in knowing these mistakes can be corrected should I choose to in the studio, but I get frustrated with my overlooking details on site. In this image, the distant treeline is misaligned. For some screwy reason, I lined them up like soldiers. Why did I do that?? I'm not happy with the values, which is pretty common in and out of the studio. The fence line is skewed as well. Now, that I have dissed this painting and myself, I want to say that I really like this scene. There is promise. With some adjustments, this little painting could be nice. Plein air painting is never a waste of time, even when I feel discouraged, so I always take heart and look forward to the next time. I'm concentrating these days on improvement. Am I improving??? Am I better today than last week, last month? That is the bottom line, and so I keep at it.
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