From Noon Till Dusk

The initial drawing to establish the composition required some correcting.  The horizon and the distance between the palm tree clusters required some redrawing.

I have some unconventional habits that I am trying to work through as I continue to explore oil painting en plein air.  One of those bad habits is painting with the sun on my pallet.  I had a painting that was too dark as a result.  Because of my particular setup, I am having difficulty getting an umbrella that will work.  Meanwhile, I continue to be careful about not staying too dark.  I am trying to work to the lighter values quicker in the painting so that I am not spending all of my effort "in the dark".

When I started painting plein air with pastels, I went through the same process.  I started with a drawing and then worked to fill in the blanks.  As I progress, I will probably make the same adjustments that I did with pastels.   I will draw less and paint the big shapes and then elaborate on them.

From a time management standpoint it is taking way too long to get to this point in the painting.  Instead of drawing the shapes and then getting the large value shapes established, I should just move to the large shapes.

I continue evolve from painting to painting.  It is very exciting to see the growth I am making.  One of my commitments that I have stuck with is to complete every painting on site and to never touch it up in the studio.

These paintings in oil have not compromised those values, but it has resulted in some very long days on location.  As a result, I have switched from turpentine to gamsol.  I was finishing the day with a headache.

This is how I want my initial block in to look without all of the initial drawing.  Most of the drawing is gone and has been turned into large shapes; so why not just get to the large shapes without all of the work?

I still am working at nailing the values.  I had to go back into areas of the painting to get them dark enough to have the lights read properly.  All of these little things just add time to the painting.  Don't get me wrong; painting all day is an  amazing experience.

Because the paintings are taking so long to paint, I am changing the light within the painting.  I started in the morning and ended at sunset.  There is no way to hang onto an impression that long.  Honestly, that is something I am not too worried about.

It was a pretty amazing day at Heisler.  The waves were well above the norm.  Surfers were riding waves between the rocks.  There was a Labradoodle birthday party on the lawn.  There are always potential distractions when painting but focus on location has never been an issue for me.  I often find myself completely thirsty when I have finished a painting and realized that I should have used the restroom hours earlier. 

At this point, I am working to insure that all the parts of the painting are finished to the same degree.  One of the things that I have noticed is that although I have changed mediums, my style is still evident in my paintings.

As the shadows grew long, I began to push to insure that I was going to be able to finish.  I went from shade on my pallet to sun then back to shade during the course of the painting session.

The light at dusk changed the whole nature of the landscape.  The colors were so vibrant and rich that I could not resist chasing the light.

The light falling on the painting changed the look of the painting as the sun went down.

My pallet at the end of the day.

The finished painting.  "From Noon Till Dusk" oil on board 24x32.

The value shot.

The detail shot.

An endless supply of great compositions to be painted from one spot.