Morning on the Mississippi

Lock and Dam #1
8×10

I got out for my weekly painting session this Saturday morning, and ended up at lock and dam #1 on the Mississippi.  If it is not obvious, what you are seeing here is the river left side of the channel that the boats use to avoid the falls, which lay just behind this protruding thing.  Only two boats went through while I was painting, one canoe, and one sea kayak.

It was a great day for painting, a light wind and a very comfortable temperature.  I'm not sure if I paint better outdoors, but I still prefer it to painting in the studio.  Popular wisdom seems to share the belief that painting outdoors allows one to more accurately gauge the colors and values of the scene, and that the sensory experience of smells and sounds, combined with the race against the moving sun, contributes to a painting of unique quality.  For me there is something very satisfying about getting out into the world and interacting with all it has to offer.  I often feel fairly uncomfortable as I begin to set up my painting station in the middle of a public space, where I am typically the only one performing such an act, but before I know it I'm lost in the process of applying paint to the canvass, way too immersed to be self-conscious.  An occasional passerby will pause and maybe comment, and when they do it's always positive and encouraging.

Thanks for viewing!