Very open studio

Alexandra Tyng · 11-21-2005, 10:04 PM

Does outdoors count as an open studio? I'm not sure where else to post this, but it was finished in a single session, approximately 45 minutes. My artist friend and I were doing some landscape painting on top of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island, Maine. I had finished my landscape but she was still working on hers, so I painted a quick portrait of her painting. It is 14" x 18", oil on canvas.

I'm posting a photo of the same scene so you all can marvel (as I did) at how differently the camera (a SLR non-digital) records color and value.

Linda Brandon · 11-27-2005, 01:27 PM

Alex, 45 minute is very impressive! What I keep thinking as I see this is how much more I prefer your painting to the photo. You have also captured a fresh breezy feel that is absent in the photo, exactly what a plein air painting should do.

Allan Rahbek · 11-27-2005, 06:47 PM

Alex,
agree with Linda that it is much more alive than the photo.

Another good thing is that it illustrate how you experienced the landscape when you were out there in 3D.

I have often realized how hard it can be to make a good landscape reference photo. Landscape lines are often more straight than we think they are when moving around in the nature. Even when painting on location we tend to emphasize interesting parts of the motif, like you did, and subdue others to get the "right" expression.

A suggestive comparizon is the lack of freedom most of us experience when painting from a photo.

Allan

Alexandra Tyng · 11-27-2005, 07:36 PM

Linda and Allan, thanks so much for responding. I was beginning to think no one would. I guess this has a little too much landscape, or feeling of a figurative work.

Linda, glad the fresh breeziness of the weather comes across in the painting. It was one of those incredibly clear days that makes you glad to be alive. I was amazed that hardly any of that quality shows up in the photo.

Allan, you are so right about the "straightness" of real life. I like that way of putting it. Nature makes a great studio.

Joan Breckwoldt · 11-27-2005, 08:37 PM

Hi Alexandra,

I just came across this and I thought the very same thing Linda did when I saw it, that I like your painting so much better than the photograph.

My family and I were at that very spot summer before last! I feel like I'm back there again. I also love the way you shown some water in your painting.

Joan

p.s. Forty-five minutes! That's how long it takes me to get set up!

Chris Saper · 11-27-2005, 08:44 PM

Alexandra!

This is a sentinel example of how painting from life is so much more filled with life than is painting from photos.

All the colors and light are integrated - and you can paint me from life any time you'd like!

Kimberly Dow · 11-27-2005, 11:58 PM

Wow - 45 minutes.

That is just lovely. Very fresh and much more full of life than the photo.

Alexandra Tyng · 11-28-2005, 10:17 AM

Thanks to all! I had a great time painting it.

Joan: Any time I hear that someone goes to Maine, or even went there once, I feel a kinship with the person. I'm so glad you were there and that the painting made you feel as though you were reliving the moment.

Chris: Coming from you, the master of this very kind of painting, I am honored! Maybe we should paint each other?

Kim: The whole reason I even mentioned the 45 minutes was to explain why it was so rough in spots. If you saw the original you would know what I mean.