When doing plein air work, it is usually wise to stick to your original plan. Sometimes the light may change, but if you change a painting along with it, the entire thing may not work. I affirmed this lesson the other day…
Alum Rock Park, founded in 1872, was the first municipal park in the U.S. state of California. Located in a canyon in the Diablo Range foothills on the east side of San Jose, it is fairly close to my home. The Los Gatos plein air group was painting there today, so joined them.
The park has many things to paint. Penitencia Creek winds its way through the canyon, and there are plenty of century old bridges, rock formations and hillsides. It was cloudy, but the sun would peek through occasionally lighting the distant hill side. I decided to paint one of the foot bridges in shadow with the sun catching the hillside behind it…
The painting started out well, but as soon as I finished the lit hillside and was halfway done with the bridge, the cloud cover lifted, and the bridge was now bathed in light…
So, I changed it. Bad decision. The bridge just didn’t look right. So, I scraped it off and repainted it in shadow. The entire painting is probably a scraper, but it also taught me a lesson. Below is a quick snapshot…
And one final picture of some of the Los Gatos painters.
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