Saturday, September 15, 2007

Daily Painting Plein Air Practice - Day 10 - Late Summer Road

What a glorious day! I can't imagine heaven being any better than this. Late summer must be God's gift to those who enjoy outdoor painting. I am on the outskirts of western Omaha where the countryside is being developed into new neighborhoods. I find painting a scene like this both joyful and sad. Joyful because I am capturing and sharing a bit of the beauty I see in the common everyday world around me. Sad, because this scene will soon disappear in a whirlwind of new construction. The field on the left hand side of this photo is already scraped bare and new roads are being cut into it. By next spring this road will be paved and this tree won't exist.
click on the image to enlarge the picture

Late Summer Road
8"x10"
oil on masonite

I started this on a panel that was painted weeks ago with a cadmium orange base. I love the way it pokes through and warms the entire picture. I was also determined to go bold with warm purples in the shadows. How daring am I?
I think that unifying quality of color is what makes Plein air work appear fresh. When this is done by those who know what they are doing the painting actually sparkles with life. Check out the work of (Jennifer McChristian), she has it all, clean bold colors, unified color and best of all that sparkle and shimmering light.

I will use this sketch for a larger studio painting. I'll post that when I finish it.

3 comments:

Elio said...

I like the colors in this!

Nice

Candy Barr said...

Lovely softness. Looking forward to seeing the studio enlargement. Do you use a large monitor next to your canvas when you do studio version? I've found this technique works pretty well along with the plein air piece...

Peter Yesis said...

Thanks Elio. I like the colors in this one too. But I will cool them down a bit in the studio version.

Candy - The answer to your question is yes. I use a flat screen monitor to view my digital photos. It is perched next to my studio easel.