Painting from a plein air field study



8 x 10 pastel on pale olive green LaCarte

 The other day I painted out in the field, but wasn't happy with what I did.  I'm painting plants I am unfamiliar with, and experimenting with the pastels how to paint a "whispy" tree.  So today I did a new painting, using the other painting and my photo displayed on my laptop for reference.  Teachers have said this is a good thing to do - to paint from your sketches or field studies.  It really frees you up to experiment - I changed the format from portrait to landscape, I moved trees, rocks and the path.  I got the wispy tree better this time.  I think this painting is a little bit better, but I still see things here I could improve on.  I can see the benefit of this type of work.  I should do this more often.