Monday, February 1, 2010

1, Feb. 2010: Morning Plein Air



The trees in our backyard were tipped with frost this morning and the sun was rising through thin clouds giving a pinkish glow to the sky. I hurried into my outdoor clothing, loaded the car with fresh canvas, paints, etc. and was off.

My usual haunts were still in shadow when I arrived at the farm so I decided to drive around the property a bit looking for other subject matter. The field study above is the result. I was especially taken by the contrasts between the russet orange in the subject tree (left center) and grasses vs. the dark purply-blue background trees. I have always had trouble trying to establish just the right color note for those background trees at this time of the morning. They seem to hover around several color notes without ever becoming identifiable with any single color.

I was pleased with the resulting sketch and finished the morning off with a short hike, hot chocolate from my thermos, and a feeling of well being. It's good to be alive on a 20 degree plus morning in Michigan.

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