On Location at Stone Quarry Hill Park

Pond at Midday, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

  I went painting today at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia. There are two ponds at the top of the hill that offer great views from most angles. This is the same pond of two post back but this time I was facing SW, and the weather was nice.

 After a short break to see the All Things Cazenovia exhibit at the gallery (my painting A Chance of Rain is in the show!), I found a shaded spot with a bench and decided to paint from there. I wanted to challenge myself by painting submerged vegetation in the pond but I chickened out and painted a shed instead. The strong contrast of the lit and shadowed areas in the shed versus the lack of contrast in the grasses and trees appealed to me.

Shed with Red Door, 8x10 pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

Maybe next time I'll paint the challenging scene first...

Early Fall in Tully, 10x20"

Early Fall in Tully, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

   Nothing beats a beautiful day and  a great location to put an artist in the mood to paint.
This scene is from late October at the Grey Barn Farm in Tully, where our plein air group had painted just a month earlier.

   The weather and the light were great but the variable clouds almost got me into trouble. I would start painting  the orange afternoon glow in the distant hill only to see it disappear and then reappear somewhere else. After a few minutes I realized that I could end up chasing the light so, I took the time to look at the whole scene in an objective way and figured out the options I had. I settled for what you see here. Painting outdoors puts a lot of pressure on you only because one wants to end  the session with a finished work, and that is rarely the norm. Back at the studio I had more time to study this piece and fix some problem areas.