Capturing Some Late Fall Color

I had some time to kill in the morning so I grabbed my plein air bag and headed out to one of the nearby parks to see if I could catch some leftover color still on the trees.

After driving around a bit I settled on a stand of trees with a good light and shadow pattern to help add some depth to the scene. I spent an hour capturing the light before it changed.

Late Fall Color,  8x10 oil on canvas panel.

Early Morning Sketch

 I didn't have to travel far for this sketch.The rising sun backlighting the leaves on the trees was the motivation for today.
When I saw the light taking shape I set up my small cigar box easel by the window to capture the scene.

I used acrylics on an 8x10 canvas panel. I was able to block in all the shapes and the general lighting conditions before the light had changed. 

Working with Acrylics Outside

Bird Feeder 8x10 acrylic

I painted this at the end of the day about a half hour before sunset. I took advantage of the acrylics fast drying time.  I worked from background to foreground blocking in shapes, so by the time I finished blocking in the bird feeder the background was already dry and I was able to adjust the values and modeling of each shape without worrying about lifting the first layer of  paint.
Then I'll compare shapes sitting next to each other and keep adjusting back and forth until it reads the way you want it too.


I had installed a piece of glass in the bottom of the paint box for oil paints, but it  also works great for acrylics too. I keep a small spray bottle with water and mist the acrylics as they start to dry. And when the leftover mixed paint dries I use a scraper that lifts the paint in a matter of seconds, and you have a clean mixing area again.
A jar of water hangs on the outside of the box keeping it free of the mixing area.

I try to keep the setup as simple as possible so there is less to carry, and if you make it easy on yourself you will more inclined to go out and paint.