A View from the Brattleboro Common

(C) 2017 Dale DiMauro

This is a plein air painting I did this afternoon. I walked down to the Brattleboro Common, which is a short walk from our house. It was important that I could paint in the shade while looking into the sun. The building was minimized because I wanted to convey the light coming through the gaps and had selected a small sheet of paper.

Recently, I have been staking out places to plein air paint with picnic tables or benches where it is easy to set up my equipment. Not only am I trying to refine my painting approach outside, but also simplify what I need to bring with me.

I worked on this picture for about an hour and a half. I couldn't resist putting in the parking meter, yet wish the shadow was added, as it helps define the curb and time of day. It is fun to wet small areas of the paper, which enables me to experiment with a variety of brush techniques or drop in other pigment and increase the value in areas.