Picnic Beach

Picnic Beach is a pastel painting on board.  The board is 3/8" good 2 side plywood treated with pumice gel and acrylic paint.  The size of this board is 24"X 36".  The pumice gel creates tooth for the pastel to grab onto and the acrylic paint acts as an underpainting.  I choose the color of the underpainting based on the subject I am painting.  

This location is really nice for painting.  You can park right next to the painting location so it easy to pack and unpack.  There is a little alcove with a bench so you are out of the way while being in the middle of everything.

My approach to plein air painting.  I paint on the larger side.  Most plein air painters tend to paint 5x7, 8x10, or 12x16 inches in size.  To me that is just too small to work on the abstraction of detail that I crave.  I feel like I can get a better resolution by giving myself enough room to explore shapes and color more fully.

In the 3 hours that I am painting, I am seeking to get the most complete painting I am able to.  I realize that a highly polished painting is a difficult outcome to achieve.  My plein air painting is intended to increase my skill as a painter.  I do not work on the painting in the studio after I have completed on site.  I have not gone back to paint on location a second time on the same painting. I have not used a plein air painting as a study for a studio painting yet. These paintings are an end in themselves at this point.  That may all change.  I do not feel that I have imposed a false or arbitrary restriction.  All of those things are attractive options that I may explore in the future.  The goal is to get the best painting I can within a single sitting.  I am trying to increase my skill to the point where I can get a finished painting in that window of time.

I believe that one of my keys for a successful painting is the no fear attitude.  When the painting flows it is because the decision making becomes subminimal.  Once the big problems of composition and drawing have been worked out, I fall into a trance like state while painting.  This trance is a super focused Zen like awareness.  The freedom to act in this mode speeds up the painting process.  Worrying, over analysis, and insecurity lead to second guessing.  Second guessing will kill a painting quicker than anything I know.  Trust in yourself.  Believe in your practice and training.  Understand that it is just one painting in a series of paintings in the course of your life.  No one painting is that important.  Each represents a step in your journey towards mastery.

Abstraction is the minds shorthand to mark making.  The marks within this detail photo of the painting represent water, rocks, sand, tree trunks, shadows, and plant material.  When I am painting and responding to the scene, I am trying to represent all of this detail with a series of marks.  I am not focused on the detail but the parts of the whole working together to create my impression of the scene.

 The sum of the parts are greater than the whole.  This section of the painting may not closely represent what I am seeing but when it is paired up with the rest of the pieces it comes together.  If you get caught up to minute accuracy you may lose the whole.