Reflections 2021


Welcome to "Reflections 2021," my online photo journal for sharing thoughts, "sketches," and works in progress. I invite you to share your thoughts about these posts via my Contact Form.

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Volume 3: "Into Plein Air"

September  2021


Recently, while out capturing images for my new "Folding & Mending" series, I found myself transported into a plein air painting. It was a misty day with patches of fog moving around in a slight breeze. The low clouds muffled even the sound of the birds and I settled into a meditative state in the quiet landscape. 

There was a softness to everything -  the tonal qualities, edges of the leaves and branches, muted colors.

I could envision painters past and present at their easels, totally absorbed in capturing the changing light and weather.

Many galleries in Carmel feature plein air works of art. The tradition of "painting outdoors" is part of the area's history dating back to an art colony established here in the 1870s. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many bay area artists and writers re-settled in Carmel and became part of the burgeoning arts community.

I think it was the diffused, ephemeral quality of the landscape that caught my attention on this day. It truly seemed as if I was walking ...into plein air.


What do you think?

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