I haven't been outside painting lately. Since this autumn, I have traveled back and forth to B.C. to help my parents sell their home of 40 years and then, a couple of months later, unfortunately, my dad at age 91 had a fall, slipped into a coma and passed away. I am also back in school and with all my responsibilities painting has taken a back seat for awhile.
With everything that has been going on, I forgot to post this painting, which won 2nd place this fall at The Ontario Plein Air Society Quick Draw Painting Challenge, held at J.E.H. MacDonald House in Thornhill. The artists had 3 hours to create a work of art on the spot and then the entries were judged with the public voting. It was fun to participate and I was thrilled to be awarded a prize. The extra challenge with this painting (which I painted right in front of J.E.H. MacDonald House, looking toward the parking lot) was that I basically had to paint it twice since the sun came out at about the 1 1/2 hour mark and the lighting was completely different. I used a palette knife at the end for the thicker lights.
We still don't have any snow to speak of here in Toronto, Ontario and it is the middle of January although it is still pretty chilly painting outside at the moment!
I liked this article, published by Artist Daily which gives tips for fair weather plein air painters to keep their skills sharp over the winter. If you live an inclement part of the world like I do, you ought to read this asap!
My favorite tip from the article is to paint from life INDOORS. Still life has a lot of advantages over plein air in that the lighting and subject don't change so it can be a great time to improve your observation skills and maybe become a little faster at capturing what catches your eye when you do get back out there in the spring.
