Castaway Point Plein Air Challenge

Most of you know how challenged I am by "plein air" work and how determined I am to at least raise my comfort level where it is concerned.  Monday was a great boost for progress as our Pieces of 8 gang accepted Carmen's challenge to spend a morning at Castaway Point bringing only 4 tubes of paint: our choice of a red, a blue, a yellow and white.

So I packed my permanent rose, my cad lemon yellow, a cobalt blue and the permalba white and set off to tackle the challenge.

Isn't this the most perfect place to spend the morning?  We were blessed with a cool breeze; equally important was the presence of bathrooms and several covered picnic tables.  I chose this spot in the shade after scouting the area and taking lots of photos.

Of course the challenge was to test our color mixing ability so I started off by making a palette of colors so I would not have to stop and think about what I needed.  I was pleased with the four hues of what I brought...they made very nice colors to work with.

Down to business....and I was actually enjoying the process.  I still have difficulty limiting my scope...afterall there is 360 degrees of beauty to choose from and only 10" of paper.  I often find myself "losing my place" when there is so much foliage.  At one point I averted frustration by just agreeing to make a lovely piece from what I saw, adjusting whatever I needed to in the name of good composition, not exacting replication.

Here is a beginning pass of the area I was painting.  The best part, again, was that I was truly happy doing this.  I worked some more before I became aware of my painting buds loading their cars!  That meant time had flown and I needed to pack up.  An old trick I use (being a cheapskate) is to mix all the non-savable colors on my palette into one surprise color.  It always produces some hue of gray which often turns out very lovely.  Ah, too late I discover that this bonus color is the exact tone I needed for the merky water!

Lunch was great at the harbor closer to town but I couldn't wait to get back to my studio and touch up the painting.  Here is the final result.

Castaway Point Challenge, 8 x 10, oil on linen paper

I'll let you know when it is dry, signed, mounted and ready to frame.  The fact that I maintained an excited attitude from start to finish is great progress for my plein air process....and I think the results are not too shabby!  

Colorfully yours,

Cindy