Painted on site in watercolor on 9 x 12 Arches watercolor block.
I finally got back up to Blake Gardens today with two hours before closing. My plein air painting supplies live in an old lady shopping cart in my car. I dragged that thing all around the Blake Gardens estate looking for a spot to paint that wouldn’t be too cold and windy as it was a foggy day in Kensington.
A woman taking photos stopped to see what I was doing. She’s an oil painter who paints there often so I asked for her advice. Landscape and plein air painting never really interested me until this year, and I’ve only begun exploring it. While it initially feels humbling, even embarassing, to allow myself to be a beginner and ask for help, it’s also very freeing.
She saw that I was doing pencil thumbnail sketches in a sketchbook to get started and she suggested using a Sharpie instead, blocking in the main shapes on a full page instead of doing thumbnails. She was right–that helped a lot. Then I did a quick pencil sketch on my watercolor block, picked up the biggest brush I’d brought–a 1″ flat (something I rarely use) and dug in and started painting.
The funny thing is that the scan has better contrast, value range and color saturation than the original. I’m going to make a printout of the scanned image, and using that as my reference, enhance the original painting to match the scanned version. It showed me how to make the painting better–isn’t that cool?!
So my moral dilemma is this: which is cheating more, to post the scan-enhanced version before changing the painting, or to change a plein air painting by working on it in the studio? I guess then it’s not a plein air painting anymore? What do you think?
Jana Bouc, Artist 
11 replies on “Blake Gardens, Kensington, CA”
I don’t think any of it is cheating. I think it’s all learning and it’s all good. From what I read in art magazines, lots of painters make additions and changes to plein air paintings back in the studio. Maybe the light changed and they want to capture the feeling of what they observed. Sometimes painters return to a painting years later and add or subtract something.
It’s all about the final result as your creative expression, however you get there.
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I am with Karen, It is your painting and if you find things along the way that capture the feeling better you were trying to convey (which is what all forms of art come down to), then I say use them! I think it is hilarious that the scanner added something instead of taking something away, like it usually does! I was reading Watercolor Journey’s by Schilling, he suggested using 3 felt tip pens, one lt grey, one drk grey and a black fine tip, and blocking the tonal ranges in sketches to better capture the feeling in the painting later. He went on to say, it is difficult to find the pens to do this with. I have been pondering this advice, figured I throw it out there and see what you think.
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Great suggestion, Tami. I’ve tried using 3 or 4 felt pens to do value sketches and it really helps to make the decisions about values before starting a painting.I hadn’t thought about bringing them with me for plein air painting and now I will. Great idea!
Thanks,
Jana
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Like you I am not a plein air painter. someday perhaps.
As for going back to the studio to finish or improve a painting is just fine. Sometimes you get a better perspective on it later.
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It’s lovely, Jana, scan OR original! And it’s all your work, either way, so I’d have no dilemma with it at all…
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Jana this is such a nice painting. It radiates calm and quiet and I can tell you really enjoyed doing it.
I agree with the other commenters, it’s your art and you have to be happy with the results. To get tere, do whatever you have to. Just don’t stop posting such lovely paintings!
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The colors in here are gorgeous and I appreciate yours and others comments on how to do different things. Karen once told me about the end result no matter what I use and I have taken that to heart. It sure helped free me up.
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BEAUTIFUL, Jana!! I love the FEEL of it! And this discussion – I tend to agree with the others, though I often wrestle with the same question ..!
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This has so much illuminated color in it. Just gorgeous. I agree with Bonny and Karen.
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This is such a lovely view of a place I didn’t know existed. It was wonderful to have it come up on my screen, and so it accomplished something immediately, as a scanned picture. Thank you! (As for what you do with it next, when you decide, will you say? I’m curious to know where you end up.)
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I like the composition of this one and the way it combines a dreaminess (on the right) with more detail elsewhere.
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