Diamond Season

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

While we love to travel to distant and even exotic places to find painting inspiration, we spend the bulk of our time during the year in our own neck of the woods looking for picture potential. Good picture subjects are all around us, every day, but it takes the proper attitude toward the very familiar to discover them hiding within it. The old adage, “familiarity breeds contempt” describes a kind of blindness that can set in when we hang around the same locale all the time. It can happen to even the most vigilant and focused of us.

Painting outdoors requires commitment and the energy to get out the door to go find a subject. It is easy to find reasons to stay in the studio, especially when the weather is not too friendly. This week, here in the Midwest, the temperature is in the upper 90s with high humidity in the afternoon - not encouraging news to a plein air painter. But painting in the studio can only get one so far, so we head outside to look for “diamonds in our own backyard.” …