Plein Air to Studio

Watercolor Paintings by Dennis Pendleton. When I was in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for my Watercolor Workshop one of the places we painted was Steamboat Botanic Gardens. Along with all the gorgeous flowers, plants and trees, there is a sublime pond full of color, shade, lily pads, and colorful reflections. My plein air painting is the second image above and I was disappointed because I felt it was overworked and lacked contrast. There was not enough time to paint it again on location so I did the second one in my studio after I returned to Denver. I neglected to take any pictures of the pond so I only had my plein air painting and memory to work from.

Starting with the big rocks, I painted them with less detail and more unpainted white paper to represent sunlight. Their reflections were also painted with less detail and more dark colors around them for higher contrast. I also did a better job with this rule, light things reflect a little darker and dark things reflect a little lighter. The tall grass around the rocks is overworked and boring in the plein air painting and I remembered some gold coloring in that area so I changed it to a combination of transparent yellow, yellow ochre, and burnt sienna.

Behind the rocks is my least favorite area in the first painting and I changed that to a simple yet interesting shape of perylene green to represent the evergreen trees that were growing there. This dark shape added more of the strong contrast that I wanted. Simplifying the tree trunk was another change along with the olive green shape behind it that represents another tree.

The lily pads came next and I did a better job of surrounding them with rich darks. Also, some of them are painted with a slightly darker value to give the impression that they are under water. In the first painting, which is the lower one above, the water is overworked with to much detail and I am much happier with the second one where the lily pads actually look like they are floating in the water.

In general, I couldn't have painted the second one if I had not done the plein air painting. It was what I learned painting on location that was such a big help when I painted it again. This brings me back to what I like to say, "plein air painting improves your studio painting." Not to mention being directly in front of your subject, dealing with the actual sunlight, fresh air, true colors, and the joy and satisfaction that comes from a plein air painting that you actually like. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton