It’s been seven months since my surgery, and for the first time since then, I have been able to go out and do some plein air painting. Significant healing had to take place, but so did a very cooperative winter. I think I did mention in my last post, that I did do some painting inside the house, and that included a small winter painting of our backyard that is primarily dominated by the light blue-violet shadows on the snow, the blue of the sky and orange of the evening sunlight on the clouds. But all of that was done indoors.
The painting was a sketch of our truly significant snowstorm of 17 inches, a pile of snow that disappeared faster than I would have imagined. Since then we had a five inch storm that disappeared even quicker, and a good stretch of weather that has been quite mild for this time of year.
Even before the larger snowstorm completely disappeared, I went out to the local park and found a nice place to start painting. I set up on the grass just a step or two beyond the parking lot, and started doing a painting of three trees backed up by a row of houses in the distance. This painting is progressing nicely as most afternoons have been fairly nice for this time of year. Today, it even broke 60º. There have been setbacks, such as the craft beer festival that filled that part of the park yesterday, or the strong winds we had today. But I really can’t complain. It just such a joy to be back outside painting.
I’ve also started a painting of a group of houses on a corner, which happens to be just beyond the park. I’ve worked on this painting less, primarily because I’ve been spending time blocking in the buildings, and the afternoons that I have been painting have had their share of cloudy weather. I’m also very aware that I have five or six paintings I have to finish that I was working on when I underwent surgery. These paintings were in various stages, from complete but needing a few tweaks outdoors, to having just been started. I’m hoping to get back to them as the year progresses. So here is to a brand new year of painting.