It’s the last day of my residency, and the painting is progressing really well. The overall bones of the painting are all in place.
The foregrounds
Most of the bones of this scene were figured out in the 9x12 study I did previously, but the foreground didn’t work for me in this new double square (2:1) format. I wanted something with a clearer lead in. I liked the colors and playfulness of the foreground in the study, but the composition wasn’t strong. So I grabbed some 6“x12” panels and did 30-minute studies to experiment with different foreground options.
One variant leaned into the color shifts I liked from the first one, but it also introduced a more distinct land mass/bush at the very bottom of the frame. That one ended up competing for attention too much, and your eye was drawn to the bottom of the painting, which isn’t what I wanted. Another variant made the whole foreground much more subtle and calm, so the viewer would just glide right through it, but its over-simplicity ended up being distracting in its own right.
The one that really drew me in showed a grouping of yellow flowers dotting a line toward the water. I loved the higher saturation of those foreground flowers against the muted temperatures in the rest of the painting. I decided to use that in the larger piece, and I like the direction it’s going.
What’s left
I still have to add a lot more detail to the foreground, add some dimension to the sky, and refine the distant hills. I’ll keep tweaking the painting until it feels like all the pieces are working together rather than just standing on their own.
Reflecting on the residency
This residency was a huge success. I’m so proud of all the paintings I made. Many of them were duds, but I spent so much time painting, and I produced finished pieces that serve as a point-in-time portfolio. I learned a lot about painting and plein air, and the things I learned were not always what I expected.
For example, toward the end of the residency I found I was able to scout a scene and settle on a painting I wanted to do much faster than when I started. That’s not even getting to the painting part yet, but just walking around, selecting a scene, and confidently choosing to go for it was a skill I really upleveled during this residency.
What didn’t go as planned
There were many things that didn’t go as planned. In fact the list is so long that I think for each day of the residency I could name something that failed. A few that come to mind:
On the very first day, I was so excited to go paint Pigeon Point Lighthouse at sunrise. I woke up early, drove over an hour to get there, only to find it covered in scaffolding for a multi-year repair. Learning that a location I’d chosen from pictures online wasn’t always what I expected was a good lesson.
I really struggled on super bright days to keep my values in check. I’d often end up with a painting that was way too bright or way too dark, because it was so hard to mediate values with the direct sun right there.
There were several sessions where I got set up with all my plein air gear only to realize I’d forgotten something important. Since I was mixing plein air days and studio days, and I don’t keep backups of materials just for plein air, I had to remember everything when repacking, or it’d be left at home, as it often was.
I had real decision paralysis when it came to choosing a place to paint. With driving, walking, and setup time, I didn’t really have time to try a place, decide it didn’t work, and still walk away with a painting. So I felt a lot of pressure (all from myself) to pick the right park or vista to drive to in the first place.
The Arizona workshop
The workshop in Arizona with Mitch Baird was a super helpful experience. The workshop itself was great because it let me spend way more hours painting each day. Since I was away from my normal life responsibilities, I could wake up early and paint (or learn about painting) until evening. On top of how great Mitch and the workshop were, I also roadtripped through Arizona and New Mexico and had a wonderful time painting in Sedona. It was such a different landscape, and it let me explore leveraging my skills in a new way.
Looking ahead
I’ve never done a real residency before, so I don’t have anything to compare this to, but having six dedicated weeks to paint and work on my skills has been an incredible opportunity. Having dedicated focus time to really experiment, explore, and hone my skills is something I want to continue carving out time for, even if in smaller increments or in different ways. I plan to continue working on my final painting and finish it up in the coming weeks.