Farm in Pompey Center, on location, 11" x 19"

This early evening scene was painted at the beginning of the fall season. I was able to work on location for an hour and a half before the light was gone, but by then I had almost finished it. Back at the studio I corrected the colors of the trees on the left, and added more detail to the stubble of cut corn.

I was hoping to have more fall scenes painted on location, but the weather is to be blamed for that, as most days had been rainy or cloudy ones. The few paintings I had attempted have not yielded good results, either because I'm not familiar to using reds or because I have not taken into account that light changes so fast at this time of year.

Flower Field, 13" x 19"

The weather has been rainy and cold, not conducive to painting outdoors... I have been busy doing some studio paintings for two upcoming shows, but deep in my heart, I cannot wait to be outdoors. I'm hoping for at least one glorious fall day while the leaves are still on the trees.

This painting was done on location, one evening in late August. My favorite part is the distant hill. I used a pale orange hard pastel, followed by pale blues and greens, and the mix set the tone for the rest of the painting. It was one of those experiments that turn out to work well. I finished the painting at home from memory, but all it needed was some adjustment in the color temperature of the shadow in the middle ground.

Contrary to what I would have done, one of my fellow painters suggested no to give much definition to the foreground sunflowers. I think the idea is to let the viewers look at the painting and spend some time figuring out what's in there. I'm still figuring out myself if that's the way I want it... I might even crop it.

Otisco Farmland, en plein air 13" x 19"

This pastel was painted from the same location as the previous post, from Barker Street in Otisco, although the view looks more towards the west. The colors are so different because it was done in the morning. It took about two hours to complete, with the barest of tweaking at home.

As it often happens when I start painting on location, there is some concern involved. I wonder what to include and what to leave out. I ask myself if I will have enough time to complete the painting or lay down the basic features before the light changes, so I could finish it at home. I do not like to return to the same location to finish a painting simply because the conditions are not likely to be the same, and I might see the place with different eyes. Finishing from a photo reference is out of the question for me nowadays, because I have ended up with scenes that have lost the original feeling.