Well, we painted this pond yesterday afternoon (see that day) and we were back again this morning. The weather forecast predicted afternoon thunderstorms but we thought we would take a chance and paint in the morning. We only felt a few drops and they weren’t til the end of our painting session. It was exciting to see how different this pond looked this morning with an approaching storm and a darker sky. Of course it was still beautiful, I can’t imagine any circumstances when this pond wouldn’t be beautiful.
Because this pond was surrounded by so much untamed vegetation, I was led to simplify things in my painting. Part of that is probably the fact that I like things orderly. That sounds silly, but it’s the best I can explain it. I want things simple and orderly. I’m not saying I am successful at doing this in my life, I’m just saying I like things to be that way. Much easier to do this on a canvas than say, in a kitchen! But I digress . . .
I found painting this scene, just like I did the day before, in a more pared down fashion suited me. I spent more time focusing on the color and value relationships and less time on the details. And really, when I am outside painting plein air, the most valuable information out there are the color and value relationships. Drawing can be done from a photograph but color and value are so distorted by photographs (and printers and monitors) that it’s best for me to focus on the things I can’t get inside: true color and value relationships.
So I spent another couple of hours painting this pond and listening to the symphony of noises from water fowl and the occasional distant cow while I studied color and value. We also fought off a lot of ants, and wind, and eventually the rain came. Another wonderful day of plein air painting!
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