I looked at the portrait of my grandson this morning and wondered if I should work on it, or do something different...something that I have wanted to do for a long time....Plein air painting. I chose the latter, went out and found subject matter, and came home shortly afterward. It seems that today was only productive because of what I learned NOT to do. For those who may be interested please read on.
In future I will NOT....
1. ...take a medium that I am not familiar with. Struggling with watercolour paint (which I find difficult at the best of times) in the rain...however cleaner than oils...was not a good idea.
2....be unprepared. It took me far too long to throw together a kit. I will be working on one this afternoon.
3....go out and park on a slushy, messy road that is used often by others driving at a fast clip.
4....think about everything that I MIGHT need. I will simplify and only take a few paints rather than my whole supply. What I cannot finish in the field will be finished at home.
5....take a LARGE coffee. Not only was there more to clean up when it spilled, but the are no BR facilities for aging ladies with small bladder capacities.
I did meet some of the locals...from a distance. Several that live near the abandoned home that I chose to paint, checked me out from their car, several times.
I am going out now...to try again...from the comfort of my own backyard...using oils. If nothing else, it feels REALLY good to get out of this house after such a long winter.
So each time you go out you learn something. Just keep on going out.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the look of water colour paintings! I've heard they can be hard to work with because of the difficulty with controling them, but to me that is part of their charm.
ReplyDeleteKudos for trying something new!
xoxoxo