Plein Air Painting

Plein Air Painting at Marshall Hall

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day so I decided to paint a landscape at Marshall Hall. In Piscataway National Park, Marshall Hall is the site of the ruined colonial house of George Washington’s doctor. Others may remember it at as a one-time amusement park. Anyway, the scene attracted me because of the high contrast shadows under the trees. After a couple of hours this is what I ended up with. i

I wasn’t really satisfied with it because it seems like the values aren’t quite right in the near tree. Also that tree is not as “present” as in needs to be. So I’m not quite happy with the painting but I also had thoughts that just the practice of doing it brings you closer to a future successful painting. I’ll either try to fix it a little or paint over it. It’s all a learning process! While I was painting, I had people stop by and complement it or at least complement me for making the attempt. One lady watched me a while and said her mother used to paint. I saw then that the end product painting of a painting session is not the only way you can please people, that just giving people a chance to see you doing it can make them happy. We need active pursuits – or at least to be able to see others being active. Plein air painting is a great one because it combines being outdoors, looking at attractive scenery and producing something. You just need a small travel easel, some paints (I used six colors here) and brushes, and a surface. If the perfect picture doesn’t show up now – it’s there in the future, waiting for you at another painting session.