Adventures in Paint & Pastel
Posted on 3/22/2013 8:13:09 AM
By Sharon Will
12 Comments
"No Trespassing" 6" x 8" oil
With the onset of Spring, I thought I'd start my blog with a post of a recent winter plein air. Here in Michigan this winter was particularly long and gray. We saw the sun about a half dozen times... ok... maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's how it felt. On that first day of a snow & sun combo, I hopped in my car to do a "plein air" from the car. I sit in the passenger side of the car with my pochade box on my lap & the window rolled down. Cuz, you know if the window was up, it wouldn't be a plein air! :) Really, the window glass distorts color, especially the whites of snow. I turn the engine on about every 20 minutes for a minute, just to take the chill off and listen to the radio while painting.
I found a spot off the road with this field of snow & the sign. I love the element of signs in a landscape. Their fun colors & geometric shapes add a special element to a composition. (The orange triangles on farm machinery are my favorite!) I used a combination of brush and palette knife to indicate the weeds. The goal was to keep it fresh and loose as a mass, instead of rendering it, as it's easy for me to slip into that mode. The painting composition felt a bit heavy on the left, so for balance I added to the right background, the tree, along with some color intensity.
Usually I take my husbands car for car painting, because if I get paint in it, it's not the end of the world. A little paint just ads to its existing character. His car was under the weather, so this day I took mine. I finished "No trespassing" and was happy with it, so packed up & when I turned the key to start up the car, my battery was dead! I've listened to the radio endless times in his car before, but forgot that when the battery is on in my car, the lights turn on too & what ever else. Dead battery on a country road and... where's the nearest bathroom? Fortunately I was only 2 miles from home, it was a sunny day so I walked home & got the car later. Next time I paint from the car, for entertainment I'll be humming to myself !
