but let's not talk about that here.
It's summer and all of my classes go outside to paint en plein air. For me there is no better way to enjoy the short season and embrace it. Every day that we paint out, we are snatching moments from the passing of time and forcing it to slow down bit.
Sometimes I think it is less about executing a painting than just being OUT, seeing what's out there.
Some painters see the landscape is as a large Still Life; others would say a Still Life is just a small landscape;
some approach outdoor painting as an athletic event, others as meditation.
What I hope to encourage in my students is the idea that going outside - "painting from life" - is the norm, not the special occasion. We go outside because "real life"- is not a static thing captured in photos but in the living, changing landscape.
Tuesday evening we painted from the Rec Center and this little demo is the view toward Alamosa as the sun dropped in the west.