Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned are the insights, mistakes, and discoveries i discover during my artistic journey
-
My Journey into Plein Air…so far
This is a Learning Journey Initially my goal was to focus on sea and sky, and in particular, skies. For years I painted with watercolours mainly because I was confident with the media and it’s portability. To be fair, when I started Plein Air painting I was pretty much an accomplished studio watercolour painter. I thought the transition to Plein Air would be easy for me. For the most part it was. My first attempt with water mixable oils was another story altogether. I was attempting to paint in a high altitude desert in Wyoming. I certainly didn’t know my materials and certainly was unprepared for the dry mountain air. …
-
My Painting Process
Phase 1: Exploring the concept Often I will have an idea of something I would like to explore as a subject to paint. My first step is to scan through thousands of my reference photos looking for that aha moment. Should that moment of inspiration escape me, I make a plan for how to get there, thumbnail sketches, wishful thinking, researching etc. Most often this will include a photography road trip or several. Quite often it will include a Plein Air painting session, which is one of my favourite activities. I typically work in series so I’m pretty specific with what I am looking for and what I think I…
-
Golden Glow and a January update
I really cannot get over how fast time is going! Christmas came and went and it’s now mid-January! I’ve been working primarily on a large oil painting – Golden Glow, along with several poured watercolours. Golden Glow was a labour of love. I found the degree of detail in the treeline to be almost daunting initially. I studied my reference photos for a long time before I actually started. I wanted to ensure the painting was fresh and organic and I tried not to make it too formal. In preparation for this painting, I did a number of Plein Air studies in the Hampton area and also did a study…
-
Growing Skyward
Once upon day in late spring, I happened upon a wild garden of lupines. I got down as low as I possibly could to take my reference photos. I love this perspective of how these lupins are growing skyward reaching towards heaven. Inspiration in a ditch Inspiration can happen literally anywhere. When I was out driving around looking for potential reference photos, I noticed a ditch full of lupines in all colours imaginable growing at the edge of a parking lot. Of course I had to go and take as many reference photos as possible. It didn’t hurt that the sky and the lighting seemed perfect to me. I have…
-
Well DANG
Well DANG! Sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some. And with this painting I have had a false start …only I am not quite sure for sure (insert face palm emoji) Well DANG!!! I started this painting by blocking in the sky. The colour I was after was quite tricky as the blue began to lighten gradually towards the middle of the canvas. I had a lot of paint mixed. It wasn’t quite right. I thought maybe some Cerulean may help with the tone. I squeezed some out and mixed it in. Nothing happened. I squeezed more out and once again mixed it in half the mixture. No…
