Sunday, March 24, 2013

Plein Air at Hemlock Crossing

Using my new EasyL Prochade box at Hemlock Crossing Park in West Olive, MI. I was here painting with the Plein Air Artists of West Michigan, and painting nearby was Barb Berens and Sharon Griffs-Tarr.
This is a very nice park with many walking trails, the Pigeon River and has a new educational nature center.

The day was overcast even though the forecast was for sunny weather! 

I decided to pushed the color a little to add variety and depth. You can see there are a lot of grays and browns in this landscape, so I mixed up a variety of warm and cool grays.

March Thaw, oil, 8x10, plein air on the Pigeon River.
The finished painting. I added a little more snow and warmed up the grasses.  I initially did not have any Yellow Ochre on my palette (I was mixing up a similar color), and then finally relented because the painting just needed the extra color intensity in the right bank and nearer grasses.