As you may have noticed from some of my previous posts, I love the local juniper trees. They're a scraggly and tough breed of tree. They live in an harsh landscape. Every drought, dry wind, and freezing winter shapes them. Often the trees may lose a large section of branches or die back severely. This process makes each tree unique and beautiful. Each tree a portrait of survival.
 |
| Prickly Pear 14" x 11" Oil on Board |
This particular tree was living quite happily alongside a patch of prickly pear cactus. Painting on the spot--Plein Air--has a few difficulties I have had to learn to work with. The main trick is the light. I love to paint in the early morning or evening when the sun is low and I get that golden glow and warm colors. But the sun doesn't stay still. My shadows are slowly moving and the highlights change. The downside of that is sometimes I end up with a painting that just isn't working and there's no time to fix it. I've had to learn how to paint fast with and use my paints with economy.
This thrift of paint has a few advantages too. I don't have time to get caught up painting details or shapes that aren't important for the painting. If something isn't working I just wipe it off and start over. I've learned to make quick, sometimes painful, decisions because I just don't have the time to fiddle. Because of the time factor I often finish with a stronger, more direct painting.
However, the biggest advantage of painting from life is that I am painting directly from the source. There's no color shifting or camera distortion or any other device between myself and the subject. It's just me and what I'm painting. It's more personal for me and, I hope, for the viewer.
No comments:
Post a Comment