#2034 "Killarney La Cloche Ridge"

The 2017 Southampton Art School Annual Adventure was carrying on the legacy of my friend and artist Jane Champagne. This was the tenth demonstration painting and the third of Day 3 of the Plein Air Paint Out. The artists were all in the same area and we bantered back and forth a lot while trying to stay in the artistic creative zone. The wind was still blustery but the post cold frontal stratiform rain had stopped.

The skies were clearing and becoming dominated by streets of turbulent stratocumulus aided by daytime heating and the low level instability created when cold air masses flow over the warm waters of the Great Lakes. Bands of cirrus were already starting to spread over the flat upper ridge. Another system was already on its way.

I wanted to have some fun by painting on a small and slippery surface and making a composition out of something very far away like the crest of the La Cloche mountains. Some of the artists were becoming embroiled within the abundant detail to be found while plein air painting. There is too much information to include in every painting. The light and the weather does not allow the time to create a photographic rendition of the scene. In any case as artists, the last thing we want to do is to interpret the scene like a camera. I attempted to assist by explaining the advantages of squinting your eyes, using larger brushes and painting quickly. Finally I suggested painting a scene that was so far away that you could not see any detail anyway even if you wanted to and had the eyes of an eagle. This demonstration was my attempt to drive that last approach home. This is the partner to #2035 "Killarney La Cloche Quartzite".

You might notice the stick taped to the board supporting the small panel. One of the plastic thumbtacks that keep the panels separated while in the canoe pack broke. The stick performed the same task and kept the panels from touching each other and making a mess of the very thick and very wet oils. The panels allow me to paint to the very edge while never touching the painting again until it is very dry.