Afternoon of Plein Air

Today I went to Glendale Mill near Spartanburg SC with a friend for some plein air painting. It was the first fantastic day weekend of the year, and the conditions were perfect. I have limited experience with Plein Air, and it is safe to say that everything I had done last year was a failure for several reasons. There seems to be a big learning curve when going outdoors versus a studio, and last year I had been only using a brush. As I continue to strive for more impressionistic paintings, using a knife has been HUGE. Having to work in an uncontrolled environment under time constraints is also a challenge. These are today's works, the smaller painting being a zoom of a piece of the larger painting. I am also including pictures of the paintings in the environment. I have to admit, painting woods, rock and ground cover is a challenge. Something that would be a hard to do realistically for the experienced painter. I am pleased with the results today, and while there is room for improvement, today's experience makes me excited for rest of the year.