New Life
The brook rhymically babbles along this evening. The light begins to stroke sections of land and trees as the sun lowers in the sky. The field is aglow beyond the brook and is ready to come alive as Spring progresses onward.
Soon a lacy frill of green will drape over branches, concealing their skeletal nature. Spring delineates winter’s sparseness and brings about new life. A rebirth is felt within the land!
Debbie Lamey-MacDonald
MacLellan’s Brook, Nova Scotia
On Easter Monday evening I had a chance to paint out on location again! It was the first time on location since last fall and felt like I was coming out of hibernation. It didn’t take long to get back in sync with nature. Painting in her open studio was just as I had remembered. A variety of conditions arose that kept me on my toes–rapidly changing light, variances in temperature from the time I arrived and taking care not to over paint so I wouldn’t lose the simplicity of my subject and thus loose its esssence.
My son accompanied me on this outing and was witness to me becoming overzealous with my subject. At one point as I tried to capture the abundance of light on all the tree branches, I went too far! My painting became too busy and I had to pare back what I had added. This happened in a matter of minutes and reminded me of how important it was to keep things relatively simple when out on location. In this situation, too much detail interfered with the overall feeling of my painting–less was definitely more.
All and all I really loved being immersed in nature again and once again she quickly reminded me of lessons I had almost forgotten! I am really looking forward to being out in Mother Nature’s Open Studio during the upcoming seasons! Hoping you get to spend some peaceful moments in nature as well.
Warmly,
Debbie
One Comment
You can really tell that you enjoy painting plein air. It shines through in your writing and paintings. You are right, it is so easy to over do a piece of art. I find that I need to step back from it for a few minutes to take in what I’ve done before adding anything more. Your painting looks great – as always!