Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Daily Painting Practice- waking up from my art coma - and plein air painting in Iowa

I have been in an art coma for over a year... and just as the art doctors were about to pull the plug I awoke and found myself somewhere in Iowa.
Ok, not entirely true, but close.

 Hello everyone, I am back from the art dead and I am painting like a ... well, like a daily painter again. I was resuscitated by an invitation to judge a plein air competition in Corning, Iowa this past summer.
  I decided to make the most of the opportunity and jumped into doing some plein air painting myself. So getting up at dawn, I set out through some back roads near Corning.
  If it's summer and you paint in Iowa...  you paint corn. Now with my eyes wide open and after such a long absence from even picking up a brush, I surprised myself and found the old fears were replaced with a fresh desire to paint and a joy in observing what was in front of me.  

Diving in meant  going bold. (funny what waking up from a coma can do).  It also meant going fast because the sun wasn't going to be hanging around the horizon waiting for rusty old me. 



I saw the scene, pulled over, and set up to paint.  I should tell you now that I had just purchased this car. I tell you this because I learned several important lessons on that weekend regarding painting along the road. Laying out brushes on the hood was not a good beginning and a habit I would soon need to change. Stay tuned for some further misadventures.


click the painting to enlarge the image

Sunrise and Corn Fields
10"x20"
oil on panel

Not a bad beginning!  It expresses just how I feel about beginning daily painting practice again.


7 comments:

Melody Hutsell said...

Glad you're back.... I enjoy reading your blog!

jimserrettstudio said...

Coma... Hell I hope I wake up this aware.
Beautiful work.

Amy Mann said...

I agree - obviously your eyes and mind have not been in a coma, even though you weren't physically painting. Very beautiful!

Takeyce Walter said...

Hi Peter. It's funny - I thought of you yesterday and checked out your site to see what you were up to. What a wonderful surprise to see this beautiful painting in my email this morning! I'm so glad you're back. Sometimes we all have these breaks (forced or by choice). But we always come back, most times with more vigor and enthusiasm.

peteryesis said...

Thank you Melody it's good to be back.

Jim - i don't know happened. I woke up painting a little different.
Amy- thank you, you might be right maybe I was sleep panting all that time.
Takeyce- you are very kind. yes my break probably had more to do with my day job than I thought. but now I have no excuse. Nor do I care to make one..

Mr L said...

Great to see you back and inspiring...

I've recently been through a slightly difficult time recently - a move of house to a smaller place has resulted in a distinct lack of painting space. Work - as always - seems to get in the way far too much... your blog is an antidote to all that - so I'm glad you're back!!

Keep it going - you might just give me the kick to get back in the groove.

By the way - are you happy to receive pictures for advice?

mick mcginty said...

Hey Peter, Darren said you had kinda quit painting for a while. Glad to see you back doing what you do so great.