“Oak View farmhouse”
8x10" oil on panel

I consider this painting successful. My reason for choosing to paint this house, I may explain in Behr Path, my weekly newsletter that goes out on Mondays. If you’re not a subscriber, I invite you to become one by clicking here and filling in your name and email address.

My objective in painting the farmhouse was to capture the light on the house before it changed. Painter Richard Schmid is a big believer in painting from life whenever possible. And when one has to paint from a photo, he suggests putting a time limit on oneself. Carol Marine, another artist I follow, recently covered some of the reasons plein air painting is preferred to painting from photos in the studio. She did not, however, cover this most important issue of timing. Carol works small, generally 6x6", and she’s pretty fast, and so timing may not be as critical for her.

The objects one chooses to paint on a sunny day are like sundials. Light on various subjects and cast shadows change minute by minute. 2-3 hours max is what a plein air painter has on a sunny day before the light changes. For this reason Schmid claims overcast days are the most ideal for painting outdoors. I can agree with this, and also agree with Marine who says the worst days for painting outside are cloudy days. One minute is overcast; the next minute the sun is beaming through. Large clouds seem to take forever to pass.