Summer-like on Raefield Farm Rd. Question and (attempted) Answer

86  F  hazy, humid, large clouds

We went from frozen tundra to tropical rainforest in about 3 days!

#525 Reafield Farm Rd.

5-11-15

11 x 14

Here is the scene at the start.

Normally I would never set up with this situation, but I found this great scene with a flowering apple tree, and my spot was shaded so I knew I'd be cool.

There were some large clouds that moved over the scene putting various parts into light/shadow.

Began with the panel in shadow ended with it in light.

The "Money Shot" from today.

My spot.

My pallet.

























I was asked this question on a blog post a few days back,  I thought I'd try to answer it here for all to read:

"I'm very new to plein air and I'm curious how you are getting your lines on your canvas to match up perfectly with your background in your photos? You're obviously getting perfect scale drawing as well."

             I use the sight size method, this is a good description: http://www.sightsize.com/hunter.html   I also made a short u-tube video about how I measure it's here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2BVpr4r2ks              
            I learned how to draw, (or render) when I was a teenager,  in classes and informally, still lives, figures, etc. I had a lot of teachers and studied great art and art history and still do, or try to.  I believe drawing is the base skill for just about everything, and feel like I should be drawing now.  When I'm using paint I'm not thinking about lines, I'm thinking about shapes. About copying the shapes I see in nature onto my panel. I think about their relative value in comparison to other relative values. If you really look at your subject, you may be surprised that things don't have outlines or clearly defined edges, that things don't even look like things. In daily practice, I don't want to think too much. I want to respond to the day and the scene in front of me, much of the "drawing" aspect of my work is automatic, I measure, line things up, and take a lot of what I've learned for granted.  So now you're thinking I'm a pompous jerk, but all the practice that's gone into crafting a scene in paint is just that. Great art can be anything, but it must also convey the intent of the artist, it must be seen as only you can see it. Have fun, don't think too much and go on to the next.