I’m doing a week-long plein air class with Bob Lafond via IS183 and The Clark over in Williamstown. Last time you’ll recall I was out and around Berkshire County on brutally hot summer mornings. Today was cold and damp and misty. But! We had a tent to be under so all was well.
I’m the lone watercolorist in a small group of oil painters but the pre-paint-pep talk was good and reviewed the basics – block in areas, shapes not objects, limit the palette, maybe do a value sketch first. So that’s where I started, in paint, in grey.
We’d talked about chasing light – if you take too long painting outside, eventually the light changes enough that you should start again. This was my second, much quicker painting of the scene shortly before packing up. The clouds were lowering and the mist was coming in.
Tomorrow we’ll be inside looking at drawings done outside and doing some sketching from the Clark’s collection.
For all your days prepare,
And meet them ever alike:
When you are the anvil, bear
When you are the hammer, strike.
— Edwin Markham
