Morning Light on The Japanese Grass

“Morning light on the Japanese grass” 9x9 pastel

This small little color note painting is why I am such an advocate of Plein air painting. And why I insist on keeping my set up as simple as possible. Early morning light is a beautiful light, but it is so fast-moving that a quick set up is necessary, with the set up I’m now using its only 5 minutes and I’m ready to paint.

I was able to grab that bright yellow highlight and relate it to the darks before it disappeared forever. As you can see below the yellow is completely washed out in the photo. If I had been working from the photo only I would have never been able to see or capture that brilliant yellow.