PEOPLE!

I met a lot of people yesterday while painting on the San Sebastian promenade that circum-navigates the mini mountain on the east side of La Bahia De Concha (Concha Bay). Many of them were French, as France is but a half hour away from San Sebastian.

Ishmael, from Turkey, kept talking to me about “The Fifth DImension” and wanted know how I achieved opening up to that dimension when doing my paintings. Weirdly, I think I kind of knew what he was talking about. It’s nice when people approach your art with something other than “It’s pretty”, which kind of begins and ends the conversation, with a smile and a thumbs up.

Hedvig (pictured above) is from Sweden. We talked for about half an hour on a wide range of subjects, from doing art whie traveling, to the the evils of social media to traveling Mexico and Central America. Yes, Hedvig is traditionally a female name. I did not know this. ( I always associated the name with “The Angry Inch” and the owl on Harry Potter). Delightful human! I was shocked when she said she was twenty: Worldy, present, mature, confident, knows multiple languages. I thought she was from the states at first when hearing her accent.

THE PAINTING: I am not going to show a close up of it, because I am not that happy with it. The composition was not set up for success (like the previous boat painting) and the light was tricky: It was frontal at first (from behind me). Frontal light erases much of the sculptural depth of subjects, making the foreground island and the background mountain seem to merge together.

Below is a picture of the island later in the day. The shadows clearly show the form of the island. Maybe I will revisit the painting with this photo in mind. (If the commitment to one painting per day permits)

CHASING THE LIGHT

Which brings me to my geeky visual artist section of this Blog post. “Chasing the Light” is a term used by Plein air artists , and refers to the phenomenon of begining a painting with a particular lighting direction and quality, and then the light inevitably changing as the painting continues. This can be hugely frustrating, and can potential erase any dynamism and clear commitment in your paintings. Cast and shadows shift, it is sunny, then it is overcast. The world is a whirlwind of ceacelss activity. The plein air painter knows this. People wonder why I want to paint faster…..this is why. Decisions need to be made quickly and confidently in order to have a chance of capturing what is happening.

Sometimes, it works in your advantage…..for instance, you start painting when it is overcast, without a lot of high contrast shapes to work with….then the weather shifts, the sky becomes dynamic, shadows become allies of definition.

SHADOWS as ANCHORS:

I have learned that commiting to shadows early on, can be an antidote to “chasing the light”. Despite the shifts of lighting direction, if you stay commited to the shadows you began with, then there is a much better chance of the painting remaing cohesive.

Today is overcast (so far) so I may not have these allies in today’s painting, but my caucasian skin definitley needs a break from the sun. EIther way, shade will be the main determining factor in choosing todays location.

I leave you with a gallery array of shots from picturesque San Sebastian. Buen Dia!