I find plein air painting most challenging. I keep at it, and I do think I'm learning quite a bit. Some of the sketches aren't turning out too badly now, a good thing.
This one proved to be an excellent learning tool. I find when using blue for skies and water, it can either be too "blue", or too "green". Violet seems to be the perfect "calming agent". I know it works great for calming the greens, and I'm finding that in small amounts (sometimes imperceptible to the viewer) it works wonders with blue.
Here is my first version of the scene, done on location. I was pretty happy (for a plein air......) with the vegetation. The water, not so much. It was moving water, so there were no reflections. Because of the light there was lots of sparkle on the water, very difficult to capture. I'll keep trying... I found myself wanting to use a "greener" blue, thus the turquoise choice. I thought it might marry the green of the landscape with the water. Well, not so much. In looking at this at home, I had a hard time reconciling the water with the painting. For some reason, the sky works better to me, the water seemed a bit too much turquoise.
So...........against most everything I've read about plein air, especially the statements that say, once you're done, don't go back into it in the studio.......
I went back into it in the studio. I have to say, that although there are valid reasons for not going back into the painting (I've heard them all....), for me right now I much prefer going back into the work. My reasoning is that I'm not viewing any of these works as anything "precious", they are all learning tools. If I go back into it, while my memory is still somewhat fresh, I can experiment to see what would work better for next time. In the "calm" of my studio, with a clear head and no distractions, I can apply what I think might work, sort of let the pastel dust fly. I really don't care if I "ruin" the sketch, it really doesn't matter to me. The freedom to experiment on something not precious for me is a really good thing.
Okay, here is the first version:
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved
And here is where I'm at now:
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved
I confess that I wiped out the entire bottom half, all the water. I ended up with a turquoise underpainting, which was fine. There is plenty of turquoise in the sky, and it does need to be in the water, just not so much. I then went in with tones of blues and violets........ I can see how using violet in the water has helped to marry the water with the landscape. I used violet in the landscape portion, so adding it to the water in subdued tones does makes a big difference. I originally did have violet up near the shore line in the water, which I left, but I also added it to the lighter areas near the foreground. I also added tones of green and warm red in the water, again in an attempt to marry the scene. This is by no means a masterpiece, but I do feel that the exercise was extremely valuable, so to that end it is a huge success.
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