Brattleboro Common

(C) 2026 Dale DiMauro

 

While my car was in the shop this afternoon, I painted this plein air. It felt good to sit at a picnic table in the shade and paint this lovely tree. The more I observed this scene the more I became aware of how green the landscape has become.

I do find painting outside sharpens my observation skills and makes me focus on what is at hand. At times there was a lovely dappled light piercing through the layered canopies above my head. However, it would disappear as quickly as it would come upon me. As a matter of fact, I stained the lower part of the paper a light yellow to enable this quality to pop through the various greens.

This photograph does not do justice to this watercolor as much of the pigmentation and clarity of light has been lost.

By the end of the day I had painted two watercolors. If you include test sheets - then I produced 4 watercolors this afternoon. Many people like the test sheets as they have a rich saturation of pigments. Most of my test sheets I turn into little landscapes, too.