About this painting: I was up north plein air painting this week. Before I start a larger work I like to do what I call a thumb nail painting or sometimes just a value sketch. Here I did a small 5x7 before doing a larger 8x10. I don't work very large when plein air painting because the light changes so quickly. I try to paint in all the very dark shadows first. I also take a photo reference to view in case the light changes to much. My goal is to start painting larger in the field. I think the trick may be to use larger brushes.
About this painting: This painting was done plein air. I had a little time left at the end of the day and thought this old apple tree would make a good subject for a larger painting but would do the 5x7 to get a feel for it. I later did an 8x10 and felt this little one had a much better feel to it.