....."Armchair PleinAir", because while they are based on pieces I did standing outside at the easel they are studio re-dos of what I had originally intended.
You all know that painting outdoors is fraught with all kinds of things that make it difficult to do your best work. The original studies for these stretch from the Queen Charlotte islands (a grizzly showed up and things ended early) to Maine (a squall came galloping in dumping buckets of rain on the fun). Each of them were incomplete for some good reason (lack of energy and/or inspiration originally sank two of them).
I thought it would be a good thing if I repainted them but doing it while focusing on my first concept, sacrificing anything that didn't contribute to that being fulfilled.
These are all on 8x8 birch plywood coated with two coats of shellac. As the coating dries in 20 minutes or less, they are quick to prepare...and I kind of like the wood tone showing through. They are all acrylic and were done this winter sitting in a comfortable chair, usually in one go. I still learned a lot. Mostly I learned that maintaining a clear concept, while reining in all those other great ideas that don't contribute, makes for much stronger paintings. You all probably knew that....
Thanks for looking.....back soon.
