How do you choose the plein aire scenes you paint?
My short answer is: the light.
Which presents a problem.
Even in just a few minutes, the colors and shapes of the scene that captured me have transformed. You may have answered the question above with something different but still, your scene will be affected by shifts in the light too. You may instantly relate and remember many a time painting outside - moving as quick as you can to avoid the shifting and lengthening shadows, or adding just a dab more of one paint color or another to the mix to match the colors as they change. This is the plein aire painter’s dilemma.
Over the years, I’ve developed a good, workable solution.
My #1 tip for landscape painting is…
Paint a Quick Study
As soon as I decide on the view I’m going to paint, I will first take several photos of it. I frame my photo to match what will be the finished painting as much as possible. This photo will be my reference later if I want to check size and location of my main shapes, for instance.
The photo can be taken fairly quickly and it captures the light of what I am seeing in the moment, even if I make adjustments to colors later.
Next, I make a roughed out sketch of the scene by “drawing” with a lighter color paint on an inexpensive small canvas board. I use this painted sketch as a way to “make note” of the lines and shapes I want to work into the composition of the finished work.
After that, I block in my color scheme by painting the large shapes in the lightest light values and the darkest dark values. At this point, I’m also deciding on the overall color temperature I want in the finished work by painting with a warm- or cool-hued palette, in general. (I can make adjustments in relative-values as I get further and further along toward the finished work.)
Carrying on with the color scheme, I adjust background colors, then begin to layer on some of the objects in the scene — groves of trees, buildings, rock formations, clouds, people, flowers — moving from larger to smaller. I use this step to begin planning points of interest within the overall composition of the painting.
This process may take up to an hour or two. The goal for the quick study is to capture the essence of my composition and to lay in the main shapes, colors, and values that match what I’m seeing on location. With this foundational study as my main reference, I can develop a larger gallery-finished painting at home.
Let me know if you paint a study next time you go out on location.
And, more important — keep painting!
~ Anita
UPDATE: I’m taking a weekly portrait class with a live model and I use this technique there too. It gives me freedom to experiment in my attempt to capture the character of the model. If the model agrees, I also take a photo of the model as a reference, too. Using the quick study from class, I make final compositional decisions and paint the larger, finished portrait.
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