Work in Progress. Plein Air painting.

I think you have an excellent result Tessa - a lovely sunny morning captured! This looks a little similar to the scene around our art club.

Having not seen the scene , that’s a mouth full, it make sense as a painting. The houses that I can see through the trees fit and sit well into the view , I love the lights and contrasting colours. Your been a bit hard on yourself Tessa as you know it’s not the exact scene,  but it’s your interpretation and it certainly looks good . 

I don't think paintings generally need to be accurate representations that a camera could capture - portraiture being an exception.  Though if you're going to call a place after a given site, it needs to bear some resemblance to it, or the main objects in the picture do.  I don't mind moving trees, hills, houses, especially now I'm old enough to say to anyone who remarks "but it doesn't look like that" something along the lines of "ar, but it did, when I wuz a nipper": they won't usually know any better, though look out for some clever clogs with an historic photograph.  And don't go inserting a handy mountain range on the Sussex Downs. It is a problem for landscape painters - what can you leave out, put in, alter, shift, without seriously misrepresenting a scene; but people do seem to take exception if you just use your imagination with scenes they expect to be representationally reasonably true; seems you can use your imagination as much as you like with abstract pieces, but not with figurative paintings.   Plein air - well,  I don't do it any more, for physical reasons, but a common approach is to seize the scene as you see it**, and either call that it, or build it up further in the studio, or use the sketch as the basis for a new studio painting.  See Andrew Barrowman on YouTube - former postman, now living on his painting, I believe, with help from his dog, Basil: he WORKS at it, mind!  Also, a peek over the Atlantic at the work of Roger Bansemer, also available on YouTube - he'll often work in the open air, and refine and complete back in the studio. If you want to keep the light constant in a plein air painting, one approach is to come back another day, at the same time and with similar weather conditions, after a few hours' work.  Because the light WILL change, dramatically, on a sunny day particularly.  The last thing you want (and I've seen 'em) is a painting with light coming from all directions, shadows crossing over each other, as if there were three suns out.   ** That,  young Dixie Dean, is a mouthful!

I like the way this has developed. The greens are so restful and you seem to have captured the essence of the place. I've done very little plain air myself, but I did one last year and there are often distractions you don't have in a studio (and the sky moves!), so you're very brave methinks!

The point about painting in a group - yes, and I'd still paint en plein if I had someone to do it with who could drive, and compensate for those things I can't do; but I am a bit out in the wilds, and most of the painting clubs/societies seem to be based in the towns.  I can see the attraction, though - encourages you to get out and work, apart from anything else.

Good job Tessa, it’s great to get out and paint, personally I prefer my own company as opposed to being in a group! I can get on with it rather than irritating chatter!  However, I can’t make too many suggestions as I don’t have a photo of the view that you’re looking at, I wish you had posted that! But… there’s a lot of green! Never easy as we all know… I would work over the foreground in particular, using a deep blue green purple as an invented shadow - leave a few small lighter patches as in a dappled sunlight effect. It will give the painting a solid base and give the illusion of pushing everything back a touch. Those trees would be better if they were much darker, I don’t mean silhouette but darker, they’re against a light sky with the light directly behind them and left…I think! I can’t see any houses! they would have broken up those greens and given another patch of colour ie orange roofs/ white walls or whatever… I think you’ve missed an opportunity here!  I always like some degree of accuracy of the vista in front of me, as well as capturing something of the ambiance of the scene which I’m sure you have! These aren’t criticisms, just my immediate observations… you’ve done very well here generally. And… you did ask for critique!

Nice to see how you have tackled this Tessa and a wonderful job you have done of it.