After Krista and I spent an afternoon painting at the lake (Lake Kaweah), we spent a fair amount of time discussing plein air painting. She sent me a couple of short instructional videos, and I ended up as confused as always, still wondering if I would ever be able to produce decent paintings outside of the studio. I also wondered if any of the paintings I produce in the studio (painting workshop —just a big multi-purpose room) are any good, after I watched those videos. Sigh.
So, I set up the lake painting on an easel in the painting workshop, with the plan to follow the recommendation of one of those instructional videos. The painter said to divide a painting into foreground, middle ground, and background. Pick one (preferably the mid-ground) for your detail. The other sections need to stay less defined.
This was a bit of a struggle for me because all the parts of this painting seem equally important to me. Finally I decided that the painting would be focused on the river.
I started painting my usual way—from furthest to closest—meaning sky first, then distant mountains, moving forward.
It was too hard to put those rocks in the river with the shadows and reflections, painting wet-into-wet. So, now Alta Peak, Moro Rock, and all the hills and distant trees, along with the lower right corner are blurry.
This needs to be revisited by some better brushes, colors, and attitude. (I’m tryna learn to paint this way, but just not feelin’ it!)
Meanwhile, Krista finished her piece in her studio. After she sent this to me, we talked on the phone and I made a few suggestions, which she implemented. Fall down laughing, as if I know how to improve on other people’s plein air paintings!
4 Comments
I never have tended to like modern plein aire paintings, because they are nothing more than a style that makes them look like the artist has poor eyesight and/pr bad eyeglasses. They don’t take me into the real world that yours do. All I can see is the style not the reality. Don’t change!
THANK YOU, LOUISE!! I agree with you 100% —blurry, someone needs a new prescription. I keep thinking there must be something I am supposed to be learning from the experience of plein air painting, but as of yet, that knowledge has eluded me.
You know what jumped out at me looking at the two paintings? She used more muted tones for the water and the “middle landscape”, yours were much brighter. Both are pretty, just an observation.
Both of you so talented.
Anne, that also jumped out to me. Krista chose to emphasize the middle ground; I decided to emphasize the water. She has more training from successful artists; I go rogue. After seeing our paintings together, I concluded that my water is too bright but haven’t decided if I care enough to keep going on it.