'A Beautiful Journey' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis purchase painting in my Etsy shop $145 HERE |
This morning I took the time to photograph each painting. I put them on a large piece of foam core so that I could see them all in the order that I painted them. I was interested in seeing how they changed from day one to day 23. I discovered that something happened mid way through the trip. I began to get bolder and more colorful in my approach. Look at the first and last road trip paintings below.
'Distant Mountain Blues' 5x7 plein air pastel #1 |
'Sedona Wetlands Path' 5x7 plein air pastel #23 |
The painting at the top of the page was done today in the studio from one of my photos taken as we approached Albuquerque. We had stopped at a rest area and I painted my first road trip painting at the picnic shelter (see above) I thought that it would be fun to paint my first studio painting after the trip from the same place as my first road trip painting. I discovered that I saw the place with different eyes.
- After a month in the Southwest I was more relaxed.
- I saw more color
- I felt more confidence in painting what I saw
- I understood the landscape better. We were no longer strangers.
- I felt more freedom to interpret what I saw and interject my emotions into the scene.
I believe that painting this landscape everyday helped me understand it better. I was constantly looking and thinking about how I would paint it but actually doing it and choosing colors really helped to reinforce what I was thinking. Taking 20-30 minutes each day to paint helped me utilize all of my senses. By the end of the month I had totally immersed myself in this beautiful landscape and felt the freedom to paint it as I saw it.
Now that I am back in the studio I can't wait to see what else develops!
2 comments:
Thanks so much I really appreciate what you are saying in your blog. It is very motivating and I'm passing them on to other painters.
Thank you Mary! I appreciate it very much!
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