I arrived as the sun was setting. The sun reflecting on the water was nearly blinding. I parked my easel behind some greenery, so that I could avoid looking directly into the sun the entire time and also put on my sunglasses. It was around 7:30 when I began. By 9:30, the sun had set, and I could barely see the painting. By 10 the painting had disappeared and even though I put a headlamp onI still could vaguely see the image. It was then that I realized I was still wearing my sunglasses. Augh!
I packed everything up and went home, wondering what on earth the painting even looked like at that point. I was relieved to see it actually looked pretty good. It had the sense of the intense light hitting the water that I had hoped. for but the values needed slight adjusting since I had loaded a bit more white than I would have if I had not been wearing my sunglasses. The next night after finishing my afternoon painting, I returned and adjusted the values. I ended up feeling like that was the perfect way to complete the piece. The return visit gave me time to breathe and enjoy the setting as well as feel as though I was able to add additional nuances.
Big sigh of contentment….
