En Plein Air Painting
So I was looking at a painting I made recently and thought I’d write a little about the experience of making the painting over 2 sessions on different days (in the open air) of a beautiful location in a village near me. There is a whole seperate post in writing about Plein Air painting and weather so will keep you posted on that. Certainly working en plein air from life with changing weather effects can be a challenge. I typically find a rhythm where a 2-3 hour window is about the right timeframe to spend observing and painting a subject from life without the hue, value and saturation of the scene changing in a way that effects your palette and the light and shadow of your work. In this exercise I visited the same site on two different days at the same time to try and capture the fleeting effects of the light through the trees.
The Subject
Chapel in Stylos - The subject for the Plein Air painting
Day 1 - The Blank Canvas. The excitement and quiet terror of any start to a new painting. I often use a neutral ground underpainting tone but in this instance it’s straight into the white of the canvas.. This can cause problems with your values which is why it’s best to cover the canvas with a neutral tone from the start.!
Early stages, loose blocking of big shapes with watered-down acyrlic paint, tones and the rhythm of line to establish the composition. I really liked how the Plane trees seem to wrap around the chapel and embrace it in this beautiful setting.
End of Day 1 - This was the painting at the end of day 1. Loose and without much detail but starting to establish the composition, colour values and overall feel for the painting.
Day 2
Day 2 - Painting at middle stages of day. Working in warmer tones to the foreground and establishing areas that recede with cooler hues.
The wonderful decisions we can make about what to include or not include in a painting. (;
Only in Crete can you observe a dear older couple discussing where to place the water in the engine over sometime. I thought this was a good example and certainly made me smile on the day. I did start to consider adding the couple to the work and may have done so at one point!
Had the exercise of this painting been too create a faster colour study or sketch, I would have liked to include the school children (on a day trip to the area) but this would have involved moving fast to capture the figures well in the space and then to refine this over time from references. In the end I decided not to include them in this painting. I did really enjoy taking a greek lesson from the children as they gathered around my easel and palette to talk about the colours.!
Stylos Chapel - Acrylic on Canvas
The finished work is an acrylic on canvas and is currently hanging on the wall of the Artisan Retreat. Find out more about my drawings and paintings here