3/20/12

Come into the light children...


"Green, Green Grass..."
10 x 20 Oil

I tried a more ambitious painting at least size wise. I thought the subject matter would allow me to paint larger than normal and it did. Unfortunately I chose a very windy day and a back lit subject to do this. When, it came time to lay in the grass, I did everything I could to try and duplicate to glowing color I was seeing and I think I accomplished this. You can see in the photo of me working that the color really looked like that! This is one of the reasons that plein air painting is worth the effort. If I had painted this from a photo  back home in the studio, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to make the grass and light glow like this because I wouldn't have seen it the same way.

 
Photo of subject, but from a slightly different angle.


Looking into the light for a long time can make mixing colors difficult.


Detail of brushwork,
The orange glow is the tinted board showing through.
Sometimes letting the board show is the best way to keep a glow.