Mustard Along the Upper Bay

"I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it."-Vincent Van Gogh  I heard this quote the other day and felt so inspired as an artist.  I feel like this is something that I am constantly encountering.  

I am continually trying to push my growth by setting very aggressive goals for my painting.  My plein air process has some very tough expectations that I am trying to meet.  I paint large.  I only paint one session per painting.  I am painting to get a full expression.

I only have one painting session to complete any plein air painting.  Where ever I am at the end of my session is my painting.  There are no touch ups in the studio and there are no second visits to work on the same painting outdoors.

I put down a lot of paint and I try not to waste any.  This is my current pallet.  I have a total of 28 colors.  I have been adding and subtracting colors.  There is nothing static in my approach, process, or materials.  I am constantly shocking the system.  

One of my primary challenges for this painting was to accurately paint the brush in the foreground.  The size needed of the foreground elements dictated that I be able to paint them in some detail.  The value and color of the foreground had to be so strong in comparison to the bluff  across the bay.

The values and colors in the foreground had to have the largest contrast.  I had to maintain some sense of the detail as I blocked the painting in.  This slowed down the speed with which I was able to paint.

I should have preserved the darkest darks to a greater degree in order to make the foreground stronger.

Here I am adding the values and the detail.  Keeping the sun off of my painting was critical in helping me capture the values in the painting.  In order to paint better I have stopped wearing sunglasses  while painting.  I noticed my colors were dull.

It is funny how adding one element to a painting can change everything.  Sticking to the initial plan is important to the overall navigation of your painting to a successful ending.

The painting in the context of the landscape.

The yellow added to the middle of the paiting representing the mustard completely changed this painting.  As the light changed the scene became more yellow.  I should have gone through the entire painting and adjusted the color or I should have not added this really bright yellow.  What's done is done.  There was no time to make the adjustment.  Lesson learned.

Finished!  The difference in color when the sun is on the painting.

This is a photo that most accurately portrays the view of the bay that I was painting.  In retrospect I think this would bave been a better painting if I took a yellow and purple color approach.

Painting the Mustard was the most challenging thing for me.  The color, value, detail, and shapes were difficult to convey.  The power of the color and the frail detail were a tough combination.

The finished painting.  24"X 36" plein air oil on board.

The value shot.

The detail shot.  One of the ideas I was trying to bring to the painting was to emphasize the power of the foreground.  By emphasizing the foreground with detail and the size of the elements, I am trying to push the background further back.