Painting in the great outdoors



Well,it must be getting on to summer because my buddy Will Kirkpatrick and I are out there painting. I have always been reluctant to paint outdoors. I consider myself a studio painter who likes to control the light. However I seem to have picked up a little more skill at observing the light out doors, holding it in my mind and getting it quickly onto the "canvas". This has given me more confidence and more enjoyment of the challenges painting out side.
Some things which have helped me painting out doors:working with a limited pallet of no more than eight colors (including white and excluding black)and painting quickly.Will and I work with very different palettes but we were amazed at how close our color mixing was to each other using entirely different set of pigments. I always have yellow ocher on my pallet and he doesn't go near the stuff.
I prefer to paint on a blue sky day but yesterday,I realized how easy it is to paint in the flat light of a grey day with just local color. So with the smell of chicken fertilizer in our noses and the threat of rain, this is what I got onto a canvas at Beale's Farm in Southborough.

Comments

willek said…
Hi, Marian. This little picture is just delicious and really packs a punch. It would look great as a 4'x6' piece. There is a little of the VanGogh about it. The tent is a nice touch. WillEK

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