Saturday, June 2, 2012

HCAA paintout

Noblesville

It has been close to a month since I've posted on here. It has been much longer since I have had a plan of what I'm doing with the blog. That is something I need to think about more and is better left to another post.
The painting above won 1st place today at the HCAA paint out in Noblesville. I painted with Jerry Smith and Mary Anne Davis in some nasty weather. The thing that I think a lot of people would benefit from by going to the plein air events is to find someone to paint with that you enjoy there work and listen and watch them. Plein air events are great because you are out there putting in the work and learning from your self as well. Basically question what and why you are doing things and give yourself something to think about while you are working. If you learn one thing while you are battling all the physicality of painting in an open environment you have done something useful with your brush time.
Some times I find myself painting out in the full sun, actually more than some times. When out in open I get to squinting a lot and it is really hard to see what you are doing with your edges, especially when the values start to get similar. Today I was thinking about how I get my camera to refocus when it is on auto setting. I aim it at something light in value, focus it and then take it back to whatever I'm wanting focused on and focus. Today after I had been squinting for a while I would look up at the clouds and look for colors other than white. Once I found them I would take a few steps back from the painting, look at the painting and the scene. Things would look a whole lot crisper. I'm not sure why it seemed to help but it is something for me to think about next time I go out. Anyway thanks you everyone who talked to me at the show. It's always good to know some body likes what I'm spending my time working on.