Painted:
May 19, 2010
2:30 pm

Everything worth doing is worth doing right.  Don't take shortcuts.  You will only sell yourself short and be dissapointed in the outcome.  Whether in art or any other endeavor in life, things of true value require sacrifice and effort.
 
This painting is an example of that principle.  It would have been easy to just snap a photo and paint this scene in my dry studio.  But if I would have taken the easy way out, I would never have captured the subtle value and color shifts.  I would have missed the mood entirely.  But I chose to make the added effort to paint from life despite the rain.  From the knees down to my feet, I got quite wet from the thick grass and brush.  It was also fairly chilly, probably mid to upper 50's.  But, these seem like minor sacrifices.  I gave up comfort in exchange for capturing the mood of the scene as I experienced it. 

Painted on location, a couple miles north of Jenner, California.
Painted during a week-long Sonoma Plein Air event.
Light, but steady rain.  Yet, somehow calm and peaceful.  Sublime.

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