“Before the storm, on a field near Cramborne, Dorset”
After experimenting lately a lot with still life, I have decided to do some landscape as well. Painting en plein air is always a good exercise. Someone I know, said once that one should try to do a plein air painting as often as possible, ideally every day and it should be anything, small or big, simple or complicated. I don’t do even near as much, but I am trying to do more.
For this week weekly painting, I went on a lane, not very far from where I live, around 5 miles or so. That lane is one of my favourite spots for plein air, I painted around six or seven paintings in the area.
The weather was cloudy and I thought it would rain, but it didn’t in the end. I painted The sky quickly with rough and energetic brush strokes and I intended to leave it rough, to emphasize the approaching storm.
I have used Blue Ridge paints, they become more and more my favourite oils for plein air or alla prima. I used turpentine to thin the paints as needed and only little of the medium , which is De Mayerne.
Towards the end of the painting I noticed lots of swallows flying around and a pair of buzzards, so I added the birds at the end.
I hope I captured the mood and feeling of the place waiting for the storm.
“Before the storm, on a field near Cramborne, Dorset.”
Oil on linen.
30 X 40cm (12” X 16”)
