Plein Air Painting

For some reason the french phrase "plein air" has stuck...nobody says they went out to paint in the wide open spaces.  I guess because it takes too long to spit out that phrase!  That's what I did today, though.

Murphy and I and two artist friends hiked half way to the Crags and then settled down on a broad rock to paint.  There are definitely some challenges about painting out there...where the sun dries your watercolors before you want them to be dry...where the wind blows over your water bottle and flips your pages (wet or not!)...where the flies decide you make a lovely landing spot...Of course, what am I complaining about?  I live in the mountains of Colorado where the air is DRY, and there are NO MOSQUITO'S, and there aren't any creepy crawlies making themselves at home in your shoes.

It was a lovely day.  As the afternoon wore on the clouds began to build, and build, and build.  I was looking at the tops of these dead aspen trees and realized that we might need to call this painting trip to an end.  Thunderstorms are a regular thing around here in the afternoons, and you don't want to be high up, near the top of Pikes Peak when they hit!  Time to go home!

The Lessons of Plein Air Painting

I just keep reminding myself, THIS IS ALL ABOUT LEARNING.

Today I went out with two friends to 11-Mile Canyon, a delightful road following a river.  The weather was PERFECT.  And we sat on the rocks and painted.  And painted.  And then we moved to a different rock, and painted some more.  Except for the bugs that tend to land in your wet paint, and the fact that we dropped the roll of paper towels in the river, it was a delightful day!

And I am learning.  I tend to be too rushed when I'm painting outdoors.  As if the sky were about to open and dump on me within seconds (not true...the sky was deligtfully clear!).  So I need to slow down just a touch.  And be more careful with my color mixing, because frankly...these are DARK.  And allow myself to put in more depth, instead of just having the background be a general mush.

So far, I think that's what I'm supposed to learn.

Oh, and "never, never, never give up"!