Rock Creek Afternoon

oil on linen panel 9" by 12" plein air. This was Day 3 PM of the Frank Serrano workshop. We were up at 10,000 feet on Rock Creek North of Bishop. I was painting contre jour (literally "into the day") with the sun in my eyes and sparkles of light on the rushing water and backlighting the bushes and tree foliage. I wear my sunglasses when painting like this and they are polarized to cut the glare and neutral density so they don't affect the color. I find that my paintings come out better this way because my eyes do not get so fatigued squinting the whole time.

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Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on October 20, 2014 at 3:21: Thanks Sarah. Hard to paint looking into the sun and get the color correct. You are right about the life and sparkle; it is impossible to get that from photographs even if you took them on site. Sometimes with the photographs you can recall some of your visiual memory of the scene if you get to it soon afterwards. Easier to record your visual memory as a plein air sketch and develop a studio painting from that.

Comment by Sarah Bottjer on October 19, 2014 at 22:49: Lots of life and sparkle Stuart! Painting plein air definitely adds to a painting, so much more freedom , not at all staid.