Painting outdoors is always great fun! It should never be viewed too seriously. It forces me to loosen up and break free from my usual painting processes. Usually, on these occasions, the light changes rapidly or the rain threatens, the insects or the wind become tiresome, or there just isn’t the time to perfect a painting outside. So the trick is to make a start outside and when it becomes necessary to leave and return to the studio, take photos and then finish it off in the more comfortable surroundings of the studio. Some pictures aren’t meant to be anything other than enjoyable outdoor recreation, or an exercises in preparation for studio compositions of the same subject. The atmosphere and surroundings have a unique influence on how we interpret what we see. Painting plein-air is undoubtedly a very valuable and pleasurable pursuit !
- John & Sue Plein-air painting. April 2010. The Fountain, Silvermere.
John and Sue wanted to go and paint out in the veld on two recent visits to Silvermere, so we had some enjoyable outdoor painting excursions. Some were finished on site and others in the studio. On one occasion when it was cold and windy outdoors, we sat in the studio and chose a photo taken recently in the vicinity of the farmyard. There is no need to give up just because the weather is bad. This set of colour sketches resulted from those two visits. The one with the gate was painted entirely indoors, on a windy afternoon. (more…)
