Thomas Jefferson Kitts Paint Out-Mission San Juan

Thomas arranged to meet members of the LPAPA the day after the Laguna Plein Air Invitational.  We met on the grounds of the mission at San Juan Capistrano.  The day was perfect.  It had started out foggy and influenced the board I took to the paint out.  By the time I got to the mission the fog was burning off.



Thomas provided more information than any other of the artists I had painted with.  He was excited; having just won a ribbon for artists choice, for his depiction of the scene he was going to demo for us.

Thomas was firing off his thoughts in between putting the paint down.  The following are some of his thoughts at the beginning of the painting session:

• There is no substitute for getting in your painting mileage.  If you want to be good you have to put in your time.
• It is more important to get 100 starts than 100 finishes.  You will learn much more from a problem solving stand point.
• Painting the same subject over and over again will help you develop because you will be able to get farther in the painting each time you paint the subject.  It will point to the new territory to go into.