High Desert, Big Sky ~ Potomac Artworks

1.30.2009

High Desert, Big Sky

I've been eying a special photograph since I snapped it last month. It was taken on the road between LA and the Goldstone facility one of those days considered partly sunny, which equated to lots of interesting clouds.

I decided to use it now because the big sky called for Stan Sperlak style. I laid in the colors and sprayed it down once with water. Trying to preserve most of the ghosts created, I carefully put down more for some additional definition.

Painting skies is one of my favorite things. Sperlak's method gives me a great excuse!

High Desert, Big Sky
5x7
Pastelboard
SOLD

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Yummy color! I like the low horizon, and the way there's tension created (in a good way) with that stream of blue sky breaking through behind the warm clouds.

p.s. Thanks for the head's up about the VAMAPAPA group. I'm definitely interested in knowing more and I'll be in touch via email.; January 30, 2009 at 9:46 PM

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The Charm of en Plein Air

Much of my work is done en plein air, French for "in the open air." People often associate it with the Impressionists, but the move to paint outside preceded them by a number of decades. The trend to appreciate landscapes as a genre at all was new for the time.

Several characteristics contribute to the distinctive beauty of en plein air painting. They are generally smaller in size in order to be able to capture a scene in a single sitting. Because of the time limit and environmental factors such as the sun and shadows moving, they often lack extensive details and might appear slightly fuzzy or unfinished. Lastly, they tend to have a freshness and spontaneity which makes them impossible to compare to traditional and methodological studio work. That said, my own studio work tends toward the same feel as en plein air, which then identifies my overall style: softness with an edge.

My aim when painting en plein air is for alla prima paintings, which roughly translates for me as "what happens outside, stays outside." It adds another level of difficulty to the work.

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1.30.2009