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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Painting Arizona ....reflections on a magical trip

'Canyons Calling'. 5x7. Pastel
I painted with wild abandon. That was my goal for this trip. On the first day we discussed what our goals were for our paintings. The answers ranged from stepping outside of the box, trying new techniques, beginning again. It was good to start with a goal.
My goal was to paint just for me. To show up at the easel and just have fun. It was a chance to play. I wanted to simply respond to the scene and see what happened. My secondary goal was to treat the paintings as studies....notes for future work. So I painted quickly and ended up with about 35 small studies. I felt like a student furiously taking notes!

Painting at Bulldog Canyon. I am on the left

Was I successful in meeting my goals? I think I was. I painted with my heart. I was completely relaxed and in the moment when I painted. At each session I found that I started out a bit conservative but with each painting I became more playful. Not every painting was successful but I enjoyed the process. The two paintings in this post were done on our last Plein air day. I can't wait to get down to my studio and see what comes of my experience!

'Blue Canyon'          5x7          pastel





4 comments:

CAROL HOPPER -- A PAINTER'S JOURNAL said...

I have arrived exactly where you are in terms of painting for me...to enjoy THE PROCESS, to be in THE MOMENT.

Sea Dean - Paint a Masterpiece said...

I love your Blue Canyon. Your colour choices always blow me away but that blushing sky and deep shadow is inspirational. Apparently I don't see people's comments on my blog sometimes and I wonder if you see mine because I don't see your replies (if you do reply). That would be sad.

Karen said...

Thank you Carol and Sea! I appreciate your comments! I try to reply but sometimes get behind! I will try to do better because I enjoy the comments and the discussions that we can have. Thank you for taking the time to share!

Sarah Bachhuber Peroutka said...

Karen, "Canyons Calling" absolutely rocks!! Congratulations on soaring into new territory!