Focal Point

 I have noticed over the years that my paintings suffer from having more than one focal point.  This is probably due top my efforts to include more information than is called for.  Partly, I think, from a reliance on photo references.  So my forays into plein air is getting me to be more attentive to a single focal point.

This first painting of AJA stables is an example.  In the original painting my eye went to the side of the barn, but there was nothing to anchor it there.  So I added a few horses at the railing.  Hopefully it works!

The other info, the woman and horse, the hay bales contribute to the story.  They no longer distract.

Another focal point exercise from White Deer Plaza in Lake Mohawk is Lake House Cafe, where I try to get the viewer to attend to the pinkish umbrella and  the diners' blouse.

And the most recent plein air is the Sunken Garden  again at White Deer Plaza on Lake Mohawk.  There are many possibilities for distraction, but hopefully the arched bridge wins out.

And finally a summer plein air that now hangs in my granddaughter's apartment in South Carolina, to remind her of  vacation from college.

 

Plein air painting

 Covid has encouraged me to take more seriously the idea of painting al fresco or as the French would have it Plein air.   It is quite challenging as my foray at Long Beach Island last year taught me.  But along with some members of the Sussex County Art Society I tried to do some outdoor paining at Memory Park in Lafayette.  The still minor Paulinskill river runs through the park heading west and eventually emptying into the Delaware.  (I had thought this was the Walkill river that starts in Sparta.)  The park also backs onto the antiques markets in the center of town.

I had painted this barn from the opposite side once before and been dissatisfied with the result, mainly because it was fronted by a driveway that distracted me at the time.  This one is from across the Paulinskill--reached by a nice covered footbridge.  It was early spring and there were few leaves on the trees and the barn was somewhat hidden by thin tree trunks, giving it a somewhat mysterious air.

The second picture I started outside was of some fishermen casting their lines into the river just before it courses under rt. 15 (Main Street, Lafayette).  I eventually finished the painting at home in my studio and added a couple more fisherman to give the picture a better compositional feel.

At one of the al fresco meetings of the Sussex County Art Society we did a peer to peer critique.  One picture I brought in was a Plein air I did from my lakeside yard looking across the lake at the marina.  I got some good critiques and worked on values and the focal point.  The result I think is an improvement.  Criticism is very helpful.