Sunlight Sparkle. My first Plein Air painting ever.

Suddenly, everything came together for a Plein Air Premiére. Perfect weather, my painting friend Annika available and I was able to take a couple of hours off from work. Boy, have I’ve been waiting for this moment!

It is not an easy thing to do, plein air painting. I didn’t expect it to be. There are so many distractions, a viewfinder would be great. Then there is the decision making; am I aiming for a finished painting or just a study of colors and values…Well, I did like the ostrich, buried my head in the sand and picked up my brush.

The sparkle of sunlight in the water was what I wanted to paint. Value, color, composition… the actual scene before me. I was totally caught up in the moment trying to solve the problems as they came up. In a little while…