This is the first painting I have done from a photo in a long time. At first I was kind of frustrated, since photos don't begin to compare with real life. However, since I am stuck at home with time on my hands, I decided to make the best of it. I am pretty happy with the results. I think all the painting from life I have been doing has really helped me improve my skills.
I guess I can't exactly call this painting a Plein Air painting. I originally painted it outside at Morton Arboretum, but when I got it home I really didn't like it. I threw it on the discard pile and left it there for a couple of months. Now that I have a lot of free time on my hands I thought I would see if I could improve on it a bit. Well I ended up entirely reworking the whole thing. The composition is totally different. I added the path on the right side, and a lot more of the foreground than what was there originally. I like it much better now, but it isn't really a plein air painting any more. Oh Well.
Well, I'm up to September. Crabtree Nature Center was painted during the Art In Nature event in Barrington on Sept. 20th. About 50 artists participated by setting up easels on the nature trails there and painting while the public walked around watching them paint, while eating good food and listening to some great music. This was the second year I participated in this fun event.
We went back to Lake Kathryn again a week later. As I said, there is always something interesting to paint there.
I had to fine tune this one before I was satisfied with it.
A few of us went to Lake Kathryn in Palos Heights to paint. It is a lovely place and easy to find a subject to paint. This is a view of the lake looking west.
At first I thought this scene would be kind of boring, but it was convenient. There wasn't any water or pretty flowers. But It has turned out to be one of my most favorite plein air paintings. I'm still not sure why. I think one reason it turned out so well was that I brought it home and let it dry before adding the fence posts. Usually it gets kind of messy if you try to add something like that over wet paint.
I have seriously neglected my web site and my blog over the last few months. Now I am stuck at home with a broken foot and can't drive so I guess I have no more excuses. It is much more fun to paint than to keep my web site and facebook pages up to date. Since I won't be outside painting or doing anything else for a few weeks, I will try to get everything up to date. I have actually completed a number of paintings in the last few months. A few of them aren't worth showing in public and will end up in the recycle pile, but I am pretty happy with some of them.
This one is Columbia Woods. I had never been there before and it is a very nice view of the river. The day was beautiful and sunny. It is nice to remember that on these cold grey snowy days.
