One of the things I like the best about plein air painting is all of the unexpected things that happen while I’m standing out there. Once I had a huge bull moose in rut sneak up on me to about 10 feet away near a loud river. I quick grabbed my painting and ran away! Another time a grizzy bear wandered right through my scene. I’ve been drenched with rain in the San Juan mountains, have had my paints freeze in sub-zero temperatures in Montana, and wind almost blow me off a cliff at the ocean. I like to engage with spectators when I’m painting and often encourage little kids to add some brush strokes to my canvas. Their parents go nuts taking pictures!
On a recent trip to Durango I had a bunch of Harley motorcyclists join me at the site where I painted “Still Waters on the Animas”. They were having a memorial for two fellow bikers who had passed away in motorcycle accidents. They welcomed Jasper and I into their group, fed us burgers and beers, and seemed to enjoy watching the progression of the painting. Plus their amazing tattoo art was pretty inspiring!
When I paint on site I am not trying to copy what I see, rather to create an image of what it feels like. Perhaps the atmosphere, the weather, a memory or even my own mood. Oak Creek really doesn’t look anything like my painting “Oak Creek” but I think I was feeling really happy that day so the painting is bright and splashy. “Still got Power” was painted on a cloudy and somber afternoon in a little neighborhood in Manzano, New Mexico. I think I captured that mood. I painted “Pinnacle in Pastels” from a cul-de-sac in The Village of Oak Creek near Sedona. It was so grand in the morning sun and I loved how extra grand it looked from my low vantage point. I emphasized that by cropping the top of the painting and using cool pastel colors for my palette.
