"Dusk at Barnum" is a challenge I set for myself. How can I paint as the sun is setting, capture the color as it changes almost by the minute and stay true to what I am seeing?
 |
| "Dusk at Barnum" 20x16 May Calendar Pic |
This painting was made when I was just beginning to explore this question. First of all 20x16! What was I thinking? In pastel a painting becomes stroke by stroke, some broad, most smaller, it is a lot of territory to cover and capture when it is truly color in motion.
It helps to be familiar with the territory. This spot is another familiar roadside view extraordinaire. I have passed it plenty of times but actually committing to the familiar is another story.
This work was part of the 2012 Plein Air Fest. To my surprise it sold within an hour of the opening Sunday show. I did not even have 24 hours with the work! Wow!
All in all the experience of plein air painting during an event it a blur. One paints, tunes on the spot. Go back to the studio to frame (and yes that is a bit more complicated for pastel i.e. glass, spacers, etc.). Then hang all within 24 hours. It is not the usual vision of an artist working on piece in a studio for days or months. Hence the spontaneity. Not a bad thing at all.
Do remember; Made in less that 24 hours? And a few of decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment