Wave Study #82: Studying Hard!

© 2015 R.L. Delight, Plein Air Wave Study #82, 8"x10", oil on canvas

If anyone is keeping count, it may look like I skipped a number in my wave studies. I did not post #81 for several reasons. I did keep it as there are many good parts to it but, it doesn't look like much as a whole.

I have been busy not only painting, but studying too, but first let me talk about this wave study. It takes me five minutes to walk from my front door to the beach. Our beach here is about 7 miles long. We are near the north end and it is about a mile walk up the beach before you come to the foot of Neahkahnie Mountain where I like to paint. Neahkahnie juts into the sea and bars the way to the next cove. I usually take a morning walk to the north end of the beach, about 2 miles round trip. This morning was cloudy with patches of fog. The waves were a decent size, around 4-6 ft and fairly calm. It was such a beautiful, moody kind of morning with very few people on the beach. I was planning on working in the studio as the weather forecast calls for rain all week but on my morning walk, I decided to paint a wave study. I did a brisk mile walk back home, gulped down a smoothie to stave off the hunger pangs around the noon hour, and grabbed my painting gear, which I keep ready to go.

I brought my squall battered, seldom used painting umbrella along in case it rained. The umbrella magic worked because the sun came out to mess with my moody scene for a while! I had a good morning of painting and listening to the nattering of a nesting pair of Bald Eagles behind me.

As I mentioned, I have been studying and working to improve my painting. Studies include drawing, paint handling, painting process, and composition and value studies, among other things. And people comment that painting must be relaxing! HA!

 A few days ago I was going over my notes from my workshop last spring with Kathleen Dunphy. My workshop notes included a wonderful ten point list of which Kathleen posted about on her blog. She calls the list, "Plein Errors: The Top Ten Reasons Plein Air Paintings Fail." You can click here to read her post. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

I realized that I am generally guilty of three or four of them now and then. OK, maybe one or two a bit more than now and then! When I went out today, I worked hard to remedy that. I must say, I learned a lot and thinking about these tendencies worked, this time. My biggest error? I do plan my painting a bit when I go out, but I am realizing that I am not planning it enough. She has not having a clear plan listed as #1.  I also tend to not use enough paint (#6).

After I made my painting plan today, I turned around and saw this:

© 2015 R.L. Delight, Looking toward Manzanita/Nehalem

Dang! I wavered for the tiniest of moments but then, stuck to my plan. Now one can see the challenge of deciding what to paint and how! There is a tiny person walking on the beach to give a bit of size perspective. They are the little dark line toward the right and center of the picture. You are looking south for about 10 miles or more.

This post is getting a bit lengthy so I will post more on what I am doing in the studio later this week.

-Renee