A Walk in the Park

From the flat files

One of the first plein air attempts from several years ago.

After spending far too many years as a commercial artist, plein air

painting was something new for me. Now retired, I have time to

try it out. I joined a group that met once a month and got a feel

for what I needed to do.

This trip was too a small town in southern Michigan. I found this

park and settled into this spot. It was a cold misty day in the fall.

Not conducive to brilliant color and contrasting shadows, it became

a struggle and challenge. I wanted to put in the base color scheme

with wet in wet technique. That part went well ... it was at that time

I realized that the wet paper was going to lay there wet for the rest of

the day. Wellllllllll, I was cold and damp, the paper was cold and damp,

so I fired up the car and turned the heat on high and hoped for the best.

It did finally dry enough to continue. I think at this point my interest

was no longer what it needed to be and the painting lost something

because I was in a hurry to finish and go get some coffee. The big tree

is too heavy and over worked and dominates far too much. I think the

best thing about the painting is the last stroke I made. I quick brush

across the road up close to the front. Adds a little flair. All in all it's ok,

but as I sit here writing about it, I see the things I should have done and

are anxious to attempt it again in the studio.

I know an artist is his own worst critic, but I choose to write about the

good and bad about paintings so that people at different levels of

ability realize that all of us struggle and sometimes fail. Everyone

needs to know this so they feel comfortable with continuing.

I think it's important!!

Well, Thursday I'm off to Acadia National Park in Maine for 7 days.

Hopefully this will spark my interest in plein air painting again.

Wish me luck.