Friday, November 12, 2010

Breakheart Reservation, 6 x 8"

This painting was done en plein air*, in the beginning of the summer. I'll be posting recently finished paintings in the next few days, but thought I'd revisit a warmer day today, since right now my feet are chilled in my studio! This was my first painting in Breakheart Reservation and I remember feeling eager to catch the light before it all changed. Although there are elements I could tweak, I think it's a successful field study. When I work on small paintings outside, I'm interested to capture as much as I can in those 2-3 hours, and learn as much as possible to fill up my "memory bank" and increase my collection of studies. Someday, when I'm more consistently good at plein air painting and I have that knowledge stored up, I'll be able to use all of that to create larger paintings from my studies. I've done a few already, and love how my memories of the day return while I'm painting.

*In case the term is new to you, plein air painting is done outdoors, directly from nature, often in one session. It's one of the more challenging ways to paint, since the artist contends with changing light, wind, weather, bugs...but those who do it love being in nature and find it's the best way to learn about painting it! SOLD

4 comments:

Sandra Galda said...

nice composition and the water and rocks esp. have a good feel to them the brushwork explains them very beautifully!

Sunny West said...

This is beautiful! I especially love the light and the reflections. You are better at plein air than you think!

Pam Perras said...

Thank you both for your comments. I have to confess, I've been struggling with the values in my some of my paintings lately and the big bloopers don't make the blog! Thank goodness some are successful, so I persevere! Your comments shore me up, too—on to the next! Thanks again.

Judy Hartman said...

You know I love this one, Pam. The light, the composition and refections on the water are really lovely. It's just beautiful.