July 18, 2012

Working with What Is....

Painting West Beach, Calvert Island, BC, and below, the painting of West Beach


















Here are a few more images  from my recent trip up Douglas Sound.  On this particular day, as you can see from the top photo of me painting, the light was very flat and very soft.  I always like to paint in strong light because I love to paint shadow shapes and reflected light. On days with soft light, though, there are other beautiful things to paint.  Tones are in a narrower range, and colors are more saturated.  Also, it is less problematic as  the light is  constant which allows more time to complete the study - and what plein air painter wouldn't like more time?

I think this is perhaps the first painting I have painted in flat lighting conditions that I like.  As I settled into the fact that the sun had absolutely no intention of breaking through the clouds, I was able to focus in on the more subtle elements, like the exact green of the ocean, and grey of the sky.

Each plein air piece I tackle underlines all that I have yet to learn about seeing, painting, and being with the process.

Join me on August 8th in the Shuswap for four days of painting the landscape (details are on my blog sidebar) and let's explore the process together.  I still have room for three students.

Happy painting, everyone.

Gaye

1 comment:

  1. It's gorgeous. I think its the water and the bit of color in the sky that brings it to live. Well done.

    ReplyDelete