Day 5 & 6 of Create Everyday!

I treated myself to a day away from home and the studio, by myself. I went to Pasadena to a book signing for Susan Branch whom I love. She reminds me of me in many ways, homespun, artist, good marriage etc. it was great to have the time to do something totally selfish. I then contacted an old friend who met me for dinner and we had a great time catching up! It's nice how with some people the time away seems to disappear and there is no awkwardness at all!  Only time for a 5 minute sketch but it counts for day 5 and I will post day 6 later today! What are you working on today!?
Day 5- Grateful for friends, girlfriends to be exact!

Plein Air Paint Out- Day 5

Jurupa Regional Park

I am posting these all on one day as I have been feeling defeated and tired when I get home. The sun, the pressure and the concentration are making me feel like giving up. Everyone keeps telling me how horrible their first paintings were when they started painting Plein air and not to give up, so I am telling myself everyday is a new day. Really!? Why does it feel like everyday is worse than the one before! LOL Today we went to Jurupa Regional Park which is also a camping site. They have beautiful lakes for fishing and more bike trails and you can have dogs so Chloe came along for the ride. I decided to paint smaller, bite sized paintings since one of the hardest parts of Plein air is editing what to paint. It becomes a sensory overload as you take in the surroundings and then have to choose what to paint. I find that the biggest problem is trying to capture too much information on your canvas, dah, thats for sure. I have been analyzing myself and I have also started talking to myself! This could be a bad sign.  During one of these episodes I told myself if I painted smaller canvases it would be more like my sketchbook.  Therefore forcing me to crop and edit what I would paint. WRONG!  I crammed 3 palm trees, background trees, midground brush, shoreline, lake and reflections on a 5"x7" LOL I am hopeless! It was a better day though since I did have to leave off the gazebo and the fallen log.  I managed to get three smaller pieces done. Today was also cloudy and cold, we heard that a new storm is coming our way. Tomorrow we are back at the Oak Quarry in our down jackets and I hope to make myself settle in and get something painted!