I need a not ever-changing day!

This week the weather has been very predictable, by that I mean I know it doesn't stay the same for 5 minutes. I think it'd be great for a photographer though. When can you find rain, shine, and majestic cloud covers all in one day? But it makes it challenging for painting on locations.

When I arrived on the first location, looking over these houses on a hills into the endless mountain ranges, it was just breathtaking. The clouds however moved way too fast, and so was the light. The consequence of that was a rushed painting that tried to capture everything and captured none. The reason for me to paint on location it to be able to have that direct feedback from the world that is 4 dimensional. There is the X Y Z and the time as the extra dimension. Time is important because it gives me a range of light and colours to choose. That's also why some portrait painters like to work with live models and interact with the models at the same time instead of from photos. It allows them to capture more facets of their subject instead of just a slice of time at 1/250 of a second. Back to my painting, it did not capture the essence of what I saw, so when I went home I pretty much reworked the entire painting based on the photo I took, and the colours from what I remembered. Can you tell?

In order to produce a good painting for me, I simply cannot be rushed. I need the time to strategize, plan and think along the way. If I don't I quickly lose track of where I am and where I need to be and the painting falls apart. This is all part of the learning process though. As I grow as an artist I will have better instinct and knowledge about working outdoors.

clouds slow down - oil on panel - 9" x 12"

I was pretty disappointed after the first painting, it was about 5pm and I decided to do a dusk painting where I would paint into effect. I drove around and found a nice view looking north east and the Lion's Gate bridge (I think so). I set up on a hill and did the drawing as the day was still bright. I started with the sky, water and land and kept changing them to stay in sync with the time, and when I reached a precise time I would move on to do other parts of the painting. When I got to the houses they were near pitch dark, and make nice silhouettes in the foreground. This is the first time I painted in the dark with the book light on, and I loved it!

Lion's Gate activities - oil on panel - 9"  12"

This is when I first started

I am looking forward to the summer (I say that now), when the days are longer and more clear sky, where I will be able to slow down with painting.