Plein Air Lily painting reworked

 Painting plein air has it joys and pitfalls.  There is the joy of being outside, surrounded by glorious natural beauty, letting the sun, wind and sounds soak into your soul.  I fell into one of the pitfalls painting the lilies of the field.  One of overpainting.  The sun dries the paint quickly. The colors seem to fade in the bright sun, even when I 'm standing in the shadows to paint the subject in the sun. The danger is to keep painting past the time when I should have put my brushes down, resulting in a dull image.  

When I looked at the painting back home, I ran hot water in the sink and soaked the painting, lifting layers of overpainting.  While it was still soaking wet, I added a few touches of color here and there for accent and called it done!

I will try again the next time I'm out!

Plein Air Program - Wabash Valley Artists Society

Tuesday, June 19th I will be presenting the Program - "Painting Plein Air", for the Wabash Valley Artists Society at the Lafayette Art Museum, Lafayette, Indiana from 7:00 - 8:30pm.

Painting "plein air" or outside, open air, is a passion of mine.

​Jerie Artz, (http://jerieartz-artzart.blogspot.com/) will give instruction on painting "plein air" and you all will have the chance to go outside at the Art Museum and paint in the medium of your choice. Make sure you bring painting supplies that you will need for the hands on part of the evening. Attached is the supply list that Jerie recommends if you use watercolors for a travel journal, but can be used for any watercolor. You can paint either in a journal, or on a sheet of wc paper of your choice, or whatever media you use. You might want to bring a lawn chair.

Church in the Rain!

Sunday our church had it annual worship service in the park.  I was invited to paint plein air while the families enjoyed the event.  It rained, it poured...not conditions for painting "plein air" with water colors!  A pretty sizable group weathered the rain to enjoy a shortened worship service and picnic.  Judi Horner took this amazing photo of the scene and when I saw it, I wanted to paint it.  Here is Judi's photo along with my interpretation of the rainy event.  Those that went were blessed!