Plein Air Painter Dorothy (Stott) Clark www.griswoldart.org
The Tree at St. John’s Church Plainfield Connecticut
How I did it: This is a complicated painting and I did have one failure that keeps a watercolorist humble. Here are the stages. 1) My sketch in my sketchbook on site-with color. I then marked my truck spot with electrician’s tape in front of my wheels for my next trip. 2) I did my drawing on the watercolor paper on site. 2) I carefully refined the drawing in my studio and added masking fluid on the street wires. 3) I always return to my site at the same time each painting session. I paint the sky first and dry it with my portable hair dryer that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Then I work on blocking in the middle ground. 4) Next trip to my site I concentrate on the middle ground details. You can see this above. 5) I’m amazed at the electrical tape still sticking at my site after freezing rain and snow that melted! I now refine the middle ground details. 6) This trip to my site I concentrate on the school and foreground. 7) My last trip now! Back to the site and I complete the large tree and use my rigger brush for small details. All done and now time for my thermos of hot tea! (Each session is two hours) For my supplies, please check my supply page. Remember I use a very limited palette and mix and mix and Mix! I’m always so amazed at how many colors I get from Yellow Ocre, Windsor Blue, Brown Madder and Cadmium Yellow light. And I did add Burnt Umber for more color choices.
