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August 15, 2012

Country Road

Country Road, oil on panel, 8×8

The summer has provided some nice painting weather. I set out to paint one recent morning but didn’t have a specific location in mind. I settled on a spot on a country dirt road and thought the foliage would be a good challenge. The dirt road intrigued me the way that doors do. Besides being interesting focal points, they all lead somewhere and that must be the attraction.

I try to keep true to plein air painting principles in that the objective is to capture the light and atmosphere of the scene in one sitting. I don’t like to retouch or finish this type of painting in the studio or in a second session. My experience has taught me to settle on a scene quickly, be fairly accurate in color and form and work for 2 or 3 hours only. Any more time and I begin to settle on the details and overwork the painting. Lately, I’ve been conscious to vary my brushwork and my brush sizes.

Here’s a shot of the panel on the easel with my subject in the background.

Once completed, I thought this would be a fun shot where the painting is placed to cover the exact spot that was painted.