Well, after a wobbly start I think I’m starting to settle back into painting en plein air. I really am out of practice.
With me, much depends on being in the right frame of mind. So I took the opportunity to go AWOL and snuck off painting this evening. It was calm, warm and overcast, and I walked down to Church Cove to set up on the wee spit of land overlooking the inlet.
I was determined to work more loosely today and I gave myself an hour limit. I’ve found that having a limited time focusses the mind and, for me, drives better results. I also resolved to use only a couple of flat brushes, 1.5cm and 1cm (ignore the fan in the photo, I didn’t use it).
Once I’d set up my pochade box I laid out my basic acrylic palette:
- Titanium White
- Mixing White
- Ultramarine Blue
- Cobalt Blue
- Yellow Light Hansa
- Quinacridone Red
- Permanent Alizarin Crimson
In addition I added a couple of cooler blues and three earth colours:
- Cerulean Blue
- Indanthrene Blue
- Yellow Ochre
- Raw Umber
- Burnt Umber
On my 20cm by 30cm linen covered mdf panel from Jacksons I drew out the basic shapes and quickly blocked in all the features roughly before more carefully noting the passages of light and dark.
As usual I kept the acrylics open by occasionally spraying the palette with water – not too much though, I didn’t want to make colourful puddles!
I’m pretty pleased with the result, but what do you think? Why not leave me a message?