Thursday, April 18, 2013

Rural road - plein air landscape in oil

Despite some less-than-spectacular weather, I have actually been doing some painting among all my grumbling about the Great Southern Art Award.

Last weekend, with grey skies from horizon to horizon, I went for an aimless drive down some of the farming roads around here.

I found a pleasant little spot where I could park well off the road and safely stand to paint. So that's what I did.

One advantage of grey skies is that the light doesn't change as drastically as it does on clear days, so you can take your time getting things right. One disadvantage of grey skies is that the light doesn't change as drastically as it does on clear days, so you tend to take your time and lose some of the spontaneity that occurs in faster paintings.

Since I almost never paint on grey days, I used this as another opportunity to see if I could change that habit. I  spent around two hours on this one I think. I lost track of time and had to stop for a while as a farmer drove his sheep across the road right in front of me. Plus the scene disappeared every 15 minutes or so as cars and trucks went past, filling the air with dust.

plein air landscape in oil by andy dolphin
(Rural road. Plein air sketch. 30x25cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)

Sorry, I didn't get a location shot.

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