Annie: Plein-air sketch from life

[Linda Brandon]

This is an oil sketch I did last weekend in preparation for a commission (finished size of final painting to be 28" x 28"). The sketch was primarily to decide which colors to use in outdoor flesh tones.

By the way, Steve Sweeney led me to Kurt Anderson's oil painting book, who muses that outdoor palettes ought to be different than indoor palettes. Anderson thinks that outdoor palettes should include more intense colors than indoor palettes. I haven't decided yet for myself whether he's right, but I do have lots of opinions on who looks good in strong sunlight (young people under 25, cowboys and animals).

This lovely girl sat for 90 minutes and although I gave her lots of breaks and tried to filter our harsh Arizona sun, I was worried about that patch of sunlight on the left side.

The final commissioned work is of her sitting on a park bench and it won't be as painterly as this sketch.

I don't plan to change this painting but I hope to get some honest feedback from all of you anyway. This is my first post so maybe I can blame everything on technical difficulties.