Oh Winter! Creative Time

"Red River Boulders" 11"x14" pastel

It's only November but with temperatures 15 degrees below normal, it's wintertime here. 
So I can bemoan it or embrace it for the quiet creative time it presents.

I"m doing both. I'm looking at the plein air sketches from this fall and working up larger studio pieces for the 2019 art fair season.

Plein air can be a challenge. For me it's best to think when going out in nature, "this is just a sketch to observe the natural world around me, not a time to create a final framable piece."

This plein air sketch, I think, works well. Good compositional movement and good observation of color.

"River's Bend - Fall Light" 7"x10" pastel sketch

This one is not very successful. I don't like the colors but these colors are closer to what I was observing than what the camera recorded. There are some elements here I can use in other work, as I did in the drawing at the top of the page.

"Red River Boulders" - plein air sketch