PLEIN AIR STUDY FOR HARBOR SCENE by TOM BROWN

“SILVER LIGHT UPON THE WATERS”
Plein Air Study by Tom Brown
To purchase this painting, email me at: tombrownstudio@cox.net

This 5-minute palette knife study was done as a demonstration for my plein air students. I wanted to show how to capture the fleeting light and color of a scene in which conditions were likely to quickly change.

In this brief study I was able to record the silver light sparkling across the harbor, the color of the sky, the foggy blur of the distant shore and placement of a few key palm trees. Several kayakers cut across the scene as I painted this, and they were recorded with just a few strokes of a brush.

Then I was able to use this study as reference for lighting and color while I created a more detailed painting of the harbor.

While I painted the larger canvas it became very apparent how valuable this study was. The sun changed direction, the color of the sky and water changed, the fog lifted and altered the colors across the harbor and the entire scene was altered.

This little study kept me on target and enabled me to maintain lighting conditions in my painting that were present earlier in the morning.

I thought it might be interesting to give this little glimpse behind the scenes to show the working process that sometimes goes into my larger paintings.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy the view and have a wonderful day!