Plein Air Painting: Last week's excursions

Hello,

This week has flown by and I regret that in the evenings I am so exhausted that sharing last week's plein air paintings has not occurred until this afternoon.

The pregnancy is coming to an end and with it I am also trying to tie up loose ends, this includes lots of errands, shopping, cooking lots of freezer meals, and finalizing details of the nursery. Exciting times are ahead, however I am also trying to get as much painting in as possible knowing that I will take some time off to care for the little one when she arrives.

Here are last week's plein air studies:


Potomac River Series XIX
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

The morning my friend and I went out painting was perfect, the weather and light was best so far since I began this project. The sky was full of dramatic cloud formations unfortunately I did not try to capture them right away when I started this painting, so by the time I got to them the sky had cleared. Lesson learned -- if there is something that really captures my attention, focus on that area first, the other areas can wait!


Potomac River Series XX
{approx. 8" x 12" (20.3 x 30.4 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Often I strive to paint two paintings when out, and I felt lucky that I was also able to get this one in. Because I had lost the clouds by now, I decided to zoom in on the shore some and to work on depicting trees and atmospheric haze.


Potomac River Series XXI - Old Town
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm)) – oil on gessoed paper}

We decided that moving into Old Town for our next plein air excursion would be a good idea, this way we can become comfortabel with including some buildings into our skill set. As all of these paintings are studies, I have decided if they really do not get off to a good start, or that at some point they veer off course, I will stop and start a new painting. This is what happened with this study, I realized that I was painting the house, not a painting, so I stopped and started another one.


Potomac River Series XXII - Old Town SOLD
{approx. 5" x 7" (12.7 x 17.8 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

This study is my second attempt at painting a street scene. At one point I nearly gave up and started a new painting, however my painting partner encouraged me to keep going and I am so happy she did, because I was able to finish a vignette of Old Town.

So far this week I have been out painting twice and will share the paintings with you tomorrow. I do not think I will be able to get out and paint outside again until next week...

Thanks for stopping by and reading :)

Liz