En Plein Jane

​This week I’ve taken on a challenge to create a week long en plein air image. En plein air paintings are commonly completed start to finish in a couple of hours moving quickly through the processes of creating a representation. But we’ve had a week of consistent early morning forecast conditions, and I’ve got daily access to a vista I’ve been longing to capture, so I took the plunge! And the experiment has been just plain fun! I left my easel in the same spot to return to daily to add value in layers to develop my impression of a calm, quiet, early morning lake at peace. Instead of the typical “speed painting” required for painting outdoors, this method allowed each day’s paint application to dry until the next day’s session. But this method also presented its own challenges of trial and error lessons, not only for painting but also for life. The temptation to move ahead of the slow, step by step, day by day process. Mistakes that could not be retouched until the next day or better yet just living with them. The darkness more often than not shapes the light. Reminds me of the humbling Words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…”. Although I wish I had chosen a different surface for this project and next time I’ll probably do things differently, it was a fun experiment and I learned good lessons. And…It’s plain to see…my weaknesses are covered by His Grace.

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