En Plein Air Painting: At Leisure (Acrylic 12 x 16)

I know some of you may have been waiting to see the portrait I did yesterday at Punta Gorda VAC. We painted our regular model Photographer Nancy. If you scroll down my blog's Painting Gallery, you will see the portrait I did last time of her. Even though, toward the end of the session, my fellow artists complimented me on the portrait and she was so happy to see it that she came over to give me a hug, saying, "You always got me. I really like it." when Nancy saw her portrait, yet I knew I had a bad feeling about the portrait. I didn't think it even reached my average quality. I understood the reason why my friends liked it was because it looked like Nancy. Honestly, catching likeness isn't too difficult a thing to me. I had higher expectations for myself and didn't think its color was clear enough. I dragged too much when I was painting it and I knew I was in trouble. Whenever I have a situation like that, what I usually would do is trying to make another painting to my own satisfaction. That was why I made the painting today.

I didn't go to Patio De Leon Plaza with Lee Plein Air Group because I painted the place before. I was thinking of going to Meloy Hay Co. again, so I drove to Highway 80. Suddenly, in Alva, through the cracks between oak trees I saw a fairly big boat on water. I remembered I noticed the place sometime ago on Google map and wondered why I had never paid attention to this hidden part of the Caloosahatchee River which almost came upon Highway 80. Therefore, I made a U-turn and pulled my car to the water. It was a beautiful area and even perfect for an artist because of the oak over me like a huge umbrella. I set up to paint. In about a half hour, a guy named Woody came out of the door in a fence. It turned out to be his property and I was trespassing. Woody was very friendly and let me stay to paint. Besides, he gave me his phone number and said I could call him whenever I wanted to paint there. When I was finished, Woody invited me to his boat yard beyond the fence. My! There was a luxurious yacht, a colossal three-mast sailing boat and some small ones. Lucky me, I guess. Woody was in yacht business.

Today's painting in acrylic is OK. At least, I didn't have any more of the bad feelings from the portrait. I always tried to control the blazing effect of acrylic paint, which, sometimes, reminded me of the unreal color of High Definition TV. You know what I mean. That's why I usually prefer oil if I have to pick one medium. Last Wednesday at Ft. Myers Beach, I commented on my own acrylic painting I did at Salty Sam's Marina by saying, "It looks a little too commercial." Jo Ann asked what was wrong with being commercial. Good question! Later, when I thought it over, I would say: If a painting is too commercial , it is somewhat like a pretty girl being coquettish. Of course, there is nothing wrong with a girl's coquettishness. However, I'd like to see more of the beauty inside.