In yesterday’s story beginning, we learned that I liked the beach and reading. Where are we going with all this?

I also loved to draw and figured that when I grew up, I’d live at the beach and be an artist who painted. Instead, I live near and sometimes in the mountains, and I used to only draw. I also paint now, but this has never felt as good as drawing. Doesn’t matter, because I can learn to paint better.

When I began painting, a painter I admire a lot told me that although he is a studio painter, it is very important to learn to paint “plein air”. This means to paint on location rather than from photos. I thought, “Ick, no thanks”. I may have said that very thing, and he responded that it really helps an artist develop skill.

That was in March of 2006, and I did try plein air painting on four occasions. It was much harder than I imagined. I didn’t enjoy the experience (such terrible incompetence on public display) and the results did not please me. I had to do a lot of work in the painting studio afterward to turn them into paintings that I was willing to sign.

Why am I telling you all this? Come back tomorrow.