Monday, April 22, 2013

Some Spring Sunshine at Last

It was great to get out to paint with my local plein air group yesterday. A very start to the morning eventually gave way to beautiful spring sunshine. But of course it didn't last - the showers started by mid afternoon! But we got some 3-4 hours of almost continuous sunshine and fairly mild too. I got two small paintings done, so I went home feeling fairly satisfied with myself.

Spring Morning, Edenvale
(12" x 10" Oil on MDF Board)
 



 


























Spring Afternoon, Edenvale
(12" x 10" Oil on MDF Board)

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful colours in these lovely compositions. The subtlety of your colour shifts in these two is some of your best work.

Michael McGuire said...

Thanks Mick. The trick is to vary the colour but maintain value integrity within the main masses. Not easy, easpecially when working under pressure en plein air, but I'm getting better at it with practice.

Sandra Heading said...

I dig your use of color mick and I've a great creek to paint , you make me want to get back out into the nature side of things ....well it's all nature isn't it !!!

Alex

Michael McGuire said...

Hi there Sandra (or is it Alex)!

I've always been primariy a landscape painter, and have been working almost exclusively en plein air for 6-7 years. My sense of colour is well developed (in the sense that I know almost intuitively how far to push things beyond what I observe), even if I still struggle a little with drawing. But, of course, with scenes like these, drawing is less important. But all the figurative work has definitely improved my drawing skills. When it comes to landscapes, I certainly "draw" almost effortlessly now, and that has led to more confident brushwork.

Maybe someday (20 years hence?), if I'm still on the right side of terra firma, I'll be able to paint the figure to the same standard!

Thanks for chipping in here, Sandra, and, yes, you should get out there!

Michael/Mick

Sandra Heading said...

Real name is Alexandra , Sandra is a shortened version of it if you look it up in Greek meaning

And I sure do get out there and paint from it just as much as I do the figure.. And I do believe it takes great skill to do both really ... And I am happy to look in on a bright and cheerful man and artist likewise ....catch ya mick !

Michael McGuire said...

Hi Sandra,

Just back from three hours of lifedrawing and too wired to sleep! Not feeling too bright and cheerful though! See ya over on WC soon.

Michael