Living Memorial Park

(C) 2018 Dale DiMauro

When I started this picture it seemed to me this might be a gem of a watercolor. I loved how the road meandered over the land and drew the eye into the picture. The colors seemed pleasing and I liked the warm shadows in the foreground cast from the dense growth.

This plein air painting was started in June and by the end of my outing the light had changed so much that the shadows were in a different place than when I started. When the paper dried the picture looked very different than when it was painted. The vivid colors and shimmering paper dried flat with bleached out colors.

As a result, the question is whether I want to carry it further. I figure there is something learned each time I work outside as the weather is so variable from one outing to another. In addition, working out in the elements makes the painter simplify their process, painting and composition.

The other dilemma is that I use a different palette for plein air painting than when painting in the studio. Outside I use a Sennelier paint set consisting of fourteen pigments with rich watery colors. While inside I primarily use Winsor Newton with up to forty tubes to draw upon.

I have become inspired to go back and finish some watercolors started outside. The recent post depicting Robin Hood Park in Keene, N.H was a painting with a satisfying end result. There is an ephemeral quality which is unique to painting outside. To carry forward this spirit of a place captured outside I find exciting.