It has been a personal goal of mine to get out in nature to draw and paint. Plein-air if you want to be fancy. I finally did it! I took the day to drive to Cloudcroft, NM by myself with a backpack full of paint supplies and lunch.
I was able to take lots of photos to use as references for later. More importantly, I sat down and just painted. It has been years since I’ve done this. I paint and draw regularly in my studio and surround myself with reference photos. But haven’t made the time/prepared to get outdoors and sketch in “real-time.”
The process of framing the picture in my mind and not having my subjects be completely still was such a good challenge. There was also a swarm of flies who photobombed all my pictures.
I ended my adventure at my favorite restaurant in Cloudcroft with pizza and beer. It was a fabulous day. There is nothing like sitting amongst the trees and the quiet of nature.
One of the paintings I did I wanted to redo at home to flesh out more. This second version is destined to become a print.
