how long do your plein air pieces usually take? they are so detailed and pretty and you make so many, but i feel like attempting the level of detail you have in these would require many hours from me, which doesn't work so well for that. do you have any advice for an aspiring plein air watercolorist? haha
generally under 2 hours actually outside, probably an hour and a half on average, and then I'll touch it up inside a little later. they're in a small sketchbook about 8x5in, so i try not to get too caught up in details, I've recently started trying to use just my biggest brush (1in flat) for the entire thing to really try to focus on big picture first. If your strapped for time, set a timer to keep yourself within a certain time, i keep my watch hanging off a paper clamp i use to keep the sketchbook folded open flat so i am cognizant of it. You'll be surprised just how much time an hour is and how much you can accomplish in it. It might be a little difficult at first to get something satisfying, but once you get used to the medium and the time management you'll start to figure out a good workflow, so I'd suggest trying to draw the same or similar things at the beginning so you can focus on execution rather than content. I really like watching James Gurney and Nathan Fowkes for their plein air, they've probably been my favorites to watch and they both explain their processes very well. wear sunscreen or use a way to mitigate the sun on your skin if its out, but also look into a diffusor panel to mount above your sketchbook, direct sunlight can really blow out your painting and make it difficult to make decisions in the field. take a break half way through, look at something else, and come back to the painting and try to figure out what would make it a better painting rather than what would make it look exactly like your reference. thank you for reaching out I hope you have fun with it! i just started doing it last year but its very fulfilling, i need to go out and do some soon myself
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