Water

I love to go plein air painting in Mexico in the rainy season.
Often, the mornings are sunny and very bright, the rains come in the afternoon or evening.
The water refreshes the colors of the land, the sky, the trees. It fills the lakes, charges the air with negative ions and adorns the sky with beautiful clouds.

Morning Light

Early next morning we painted the same mountains from a different vantage point.

The sun was strong already, however, even though the field in the foreground is yellow, a warm tone, all colors, especially the sky and the mountains in the distance looked much cooler than the day before.

Sun gets filtered by the atmoshere it travels through, and early morning moisture in the air accounts for the fact that some of the rays get reflected before they can reach our eyes.

Afternoon Light

I love the hues the sun creates on the landscape during late afternoon hours.

Longer shadows mean more excitement in a painting, as cool shadow colors contrast with those where the heat is still lingering in the the sun drenched landscape.

This scene is in the mountainous region of Mascota, not far form Puerto Vallarta, in western, central Mexico. There are volcanos everywhere.

My painting buddy and I had been searching for a good spot to capture the warm afternoon glow on the mountains, driving up and down a little dirt road, when we happened upon this place. Almost as soon as we had set up, cattle come around the corner, right at us, and they probably wondered what we were doing there. They left soon, of course, but not before we got a few snapshots for future studio paintings.

The Right Brain and Plein Air Painting

As studies have shown, when we give our right brain hemisphere a chance of being active, life is more enjoyable, we become more open minded, creative, at peace, and we experience ouselves as being less judgemental, less critical and less frustrated.

There is no doubt in my mind that plein air painting is a good way of activating one´s right brain. Being exposed to all the sensory stimulations, the beauty of the view, the atmospheric properties of each scene, like sun, wind, rain or fog, sometimes a fragrance, the soft noises of nature, all that gives the artist the opportunity to become part of the landscape, to really understand it´s essence.

In such a state of mind, painting what you see becomes spontaneous and exhilarating and, unlike with studio painting, the memories of each individual experience are going to stay with you.

Atmosphere

At the end of the rainy season in central Mexico, wildflowers appear just about everywhere. This landscape is in Jalisco, near a quaint little town, called Tapalpa.

Moisture still hangs in the air after one of the last downpours in October, but the sun is coming through to illuminate patches of flowers and the vibrant green of the high grasses.

I have painted years ago in almost the same spot, but every season the flowers form other color patterns and, depending on the atmospheric condition, everything looks different every day.

Quick Oil Sketches

A San Diego art group invited me
to participate in a session
of figure painting. I accepted, of course, as the human figure has always been one of my favorite topics.

The model posed with her dog and we had about an hour and a half to paint. The experience was a bit of a challenge, since the pooch sat down differently after every break, but I have often considered challenges to be an artist's best friend.
Try limiting your time, reduce the assortment of colors on your palette to the bare minimum, choose an unfamiliar size of canvas, or a model in movement and you will see that, in response to these "obstacles", your attention will be more focused and your concentration heightened.

As far as time constraints are concerned, I feel that a quick, sketchy color note can say more than a perfectly rendered painting.

The dangers of painting commercial themes

Painting certain themes can be dangerous to one's reputation.
Romantic scenes, cute children and countryside with rustic barns tend to be the popular choice of amateurs and Sunday Painters. And, of the less discerning buyers.
I normally avoid these topics, but sometimes I confront the challenge and see if I can make a good painting, despite the commercial overtones of a view.
This is a street scene in a romantic Mexican village, called Tapalpa, a popular getaway for the people of Guadalajara. In order to pull it off I stuck with muted colors and little detail, as well as a limited range of contrast and color intensity, the opposite of which are the deadly sins, frequently committed by beginners.

Mexican Pacific

I can't believe how long I have not posted anything. I have painted a lot though in that time, but have been slow photographing the new pieces. Here's one, it's called Playa Los Cocos.

The moment I saw the evening light on that scene, I knew I had to paint it. Colors and shadows were changing rapidly and I had to come back to finish the painting the following evening.

Capturing the angle and temperature of the light is extremely important for a successful landscape painting, all the shapes and colors depend on those two qualities. It makes me feel warm just looking at this scene of the Mexican Pacific coast - kind of nice, now that the temperatures have dropped!

August Rains

August is wet in Mexico. You´ll never know when it will be sunny or raining, but you´ll get plenty of both, depending on what path storms and hurricanes decide to take.
I painted this plein air piece from a balcony of a friend´s house in Tapalpa, in Central Mexico. The clouds hurried across the sky and the shadow patterns on the ground changed rapidly. Luckily I had a previously stained linen panel with me, which made the painting go much faster.

Trees

Trees are amazing living things.
They provide humans and animals with oxygen, they absorb all kinds of pollution and improve the climate. Their roots anchor the soil to prevent erosion and desertification, in winter their decomposing leaves make nutritious, new soil. They give shelter to birds and other animals. Some trees have roots capable of desalinating ocean water. Managed sustainably, their wood provides us with excellent building material. Even dead trees still work for our benefit, enriching the ground in preparation for new vegetation.
These are just some of the wonders trees do for us, yet sadly, we humans don´t care for them the way we should. I guess we still have not woken up to the fact that trees offer extremely high benefits for extremely low cost. And that life on this planet could not be possible without them.
Now, lets compare that with what cars do for us. !?! But, oh yes, we do take good care of those.
At some point I might paint a whole series of different trees, but then, there are so many other themes, that it might have to wait a bit.