Observation

 I have long been fascinated with atmospheric qualities of the landscape. I credit that interest to all my years as a hobby naturalist and years of observation as a professional painter.

I like to think of a canvas as three basic planes of the landscape, distant, middle, and foreground. I am ever aware of those basic planes. They can be adjusted up and down the picture plane, but they are ever present. 

The key is thinking in the way we actually see. Unlike a camera’s photo, everything is not crisp and clear in our natural view. We tend to focus on one area of our view. The painter has the ability to put the focus on a plane, either distant, middle or foreground.  Inexperienced painters make everything sharply focused or everything blurred. They make everything highly saturated or bland, middle range in values or too contrasty. A good painting has variety. 

The painter’s job is to create a beautiful or interesting scene, not to copy nature. We must lead the viewer into the painting and keep them there as long as possible. If everything is the same focus, color saturation, sharp or carelessly finished, it becomes predictable. 

Painting is hard for country painters……