..Fail!
I often use the term, "They can't all be gems", and boy did I paint a dud this past week. Unlike Friday's attempt for on site painting, my previous two Plein Air paintings turned out rather nice. If you'll notice the nice piece up above, that's my view of the Cashe Le Poudre river running high in May. I had become so enthralled by my surroundings, and so connected to where I was, that it just flowed out of my hands. I really didn't have to think too much about it, nor did I concern myself with any "what ifs". I just painted.
What I've always known, yet am coming to really realize, is that it's very hard to capture a scene when there is little emotional connections. With my art buddy Laura ( please see Lauragyoung.blogspot.com for a veiw of her beautiful plein air painting from the day) in tow, we headed out to City Park. It was one of those days where we wanted to paint, but really didn't know where to go. We ended up on Sheldon Lake, and found a neat little area that overlooked the lake, viewing the foothills and mountains. There to the right of me, was a cool little duck island just about 30 feet off shore. and out ahead of me on the lake sat a little red lifeguards boat at a small dock. There were lots of billowy cumulus clouds hanging over head, blotting out the sun. I told my self, "yeah, this will do". And so we began to paint.
2 hours later, I found myself struggling to complete a dark, muddy, over-worked and over-thought mess. The perspective was off, the colors were too dark and the scene was very "elementary quality". Le Sigh....
After taking some time to reflect on this painting (of which is not photographed nor will be shown for good reasons), I've really come down to the emotional connection which I feel I really lacked. True, the lighting made things tricky, being that the sun was disappearing and reappearing throughout the session. It gave me very little contrast to work with. And I made some beginner mistakes as well, not toning my canvas first (amazing how that threw my painting off.. the gesso was absorbing the paint and caused me to over layer everything), and not penciling in the scene better. My next mistake was not mixing my colors properly. I'll be sure to bring a better color pallet with me next time as well. But what really mattered was that I myself was not fully in the moment. I was too disconnected with my art. Lack of sleep the night before, the onset of a head cold, and various stresses made for a much more challenging day.
The one good thing that came out of this whole day, was that I now have more insight to what I need to make produce a better painting. Perhaps on my next outdoor adventure, I'll be sure to cut through the mental blocks, be better prepaired, and make sure that I'm going to have a much better emotional connection with where I am.
But hey, They can't all be gems. :)
Christine, this is the wonderful thing about Plein Air. You go, you paint, you learn. Sometimes you get a winner, sometimes a "wiper". But over time, you'll have more winners that wipers.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time telling from the blog entry if the image at the top of the entry is your "fail" spoken of in the entry. The image you attached is far from a fail. It has many excellent qualities, including good composition, good drawing and good perspective. You're not afraid to plaster on the paint. That's great! If you want suggestions for the next time your paint, based on the image, drop me a private message at wet canvas.
- Brian Cragun (brianc at WetCanvas)
Thanks so much for your honest input Brian!! I've had more fun this past spring and summer learning the basics of Plein Air painting, and I see how it's developing my art skills in the studio, as well as outside.
ReplyDeleteThe image I posted was not the "failed" painting I was speaking of, lol. The "wiper" was so horrific that it has not seen the light of day since I created it. I am going to keep the bad ones though, just so I can go back and see what it was that I did wrong, and how to continue to improve.
I've not been out to do much plein air painting lately, because the weather here is turning cold and windy. I do, however, have a large studio painting I'm working on of a harbor scene at sunset, and may send you a message to see if you can give me some pointers.
Having support from such amazing artists such as yourself means alot to me, and keeps me pushing forward. Thank you.
~Christine