An Evening Scene

Well, I painted this scene before using a square format, 24"x24". Worked real well and sold in the first show I had it in December in Gallery Los Olivos. It now resides in Kentucky somehwere. I liked the original but felt the colors I used in that one were too light so I decided to paint it again in a much smaller size, 9"x12", and go darker. I recently painted some other smaller 8"x10"'s and they were darker and looked really cool in these new black plein air frames I've been buying. I recently bought a boatload of Windsor&Newton canvases from Jerry's while they were on sale so I whipped this one out today...Alla Prima, in about 3 hours.

I'm loving Alla Prima work and discovered the best way to do one is to not plan to do one! Sneaking up on Alla Prima work is my best way of doing one because when I say I'm going to do one for sure something goes wrong and I work 2 days doing it. Alla Prima - is completing a painting in one sitting. Why do Alla Prima? Because it teaches you what you need to know to paint fast so when you go outdoors to do Plein Air you are only dealing with capturing the local color and light...knowing how to mix fast and get the colors you want is learned doing Alla Prima inside the studio. Knowing how to control your painting techniques is also learned inside....otherwise you are just asking for hours spent swatting flies, wasting paint and coming home with less than a finished painting.

"Evening"

9"x12" Oil on Canvas