Front Field (plein air). 5x7, oil on linen panel. 2015
It was back to Meadow Grove Farm today for a second paint-out.
I started with a small sketch to try capturing the cloudy sky and experiment with alternative mixes of green. The grass in front is mixed with Holbein violet gray (like King's Blue) and cad yellow light; it makes a semi-transparent cool green.
Across the Pond (plein air). 8x10, oil on linen panel. 2015.
For my second painting, I flipped round 180 degrees and painted the view across the enormous ornamental pond. As usual, I did a lot of editing and simplifying of the composition,
My main goal in this painting was get the color and value of the distant Blue Ridge as close as possible. I usually try to mix this with a blue and yellow, but today I tried a mix of viridian and bright red plus white. It looks like that was a good choice.
The foreground is painted impressionistically with broken color (another experiment). The colors were suggested by observation rather than by following a predetermined recipe.