Plein Air, Bird House Finish and The Boys

This is the finish of the bird house. Like I said, no big changes, just darkened the upper left corner.

I forgot to mention one small problem doing the painting. When I put on the first layer of background trees I put some of the drying retarder in the mix. I used this during the summer in New Mexico and the acrylic still dried quickly, but yesterday, it was very damp here and so it didn't dry quickly enough. I was racing against the light and I started to pick up this layer when I started the next. So if you are painting in a humid place and trying to use layers, you may want to skip the retarder! I should have known. (Since I was at home in the back yard, I could have taken in in and dried it with a hair dryer, duh!)

I am pleased with this painting and will put it for sale on my plein air page soon. I like the spontaneity of the work and feel it has just enough detail to tell the story.

The panel is by Pintura, 8 x 10 inches with canvas finish.

The Boys

Here is the final of the boys, unless anyone sees some glaring error or line. I shortened the foot and brightened up the pillow. The color is still not as bright as the painting. Maybe when the photo is made with a camera with more pixels, it will look better. I hope so, I plan on entering it in the Austin Pastel Society Juried show. I will post the bigger and brighter photo next week. I'm pleased with this painting as well. I think I said it is on Ampersand Pastelbord, 16 x 20 inches. I plan to frame it with good non reflective glass right against the painting. It will look somewhat like an oil painting framed that way. I will photo that as well, but it will be a few weeks.