Pool House

Diane Mannion, Pool House, 8x10" oil on linen

Studio Practice for Plein Air

Bay Preserve, Osprey.

This ivy covered building is the former pool house... marks on the deck indicate where the pool had been... now filled in with concrete.

Worked from reference photos I took yesterday at Bay Preserve between rain storms. 

 Thumbnail sketch

 Chicken-scratch drawing with ultramarine blue thinned with Gamsol on Indian yellow toned linen panel.  Not a pretty drawing, simply indicates landmarks like a roadmap.

Massed darks with thin ultramarine and painted sky and water.  I like working from the background forward.  Nail the sky and everything grows from there.
*Gamsol put away after massed darks.  I only use paint from tubes, no medium at all.  Brushes are cleaned by wiping with paper towel or using another brush.  Mainly use one for lights and one for darks, on smaller one for details.  Bristles, #2,4,6.

 From here (sorry, no photos), painted green things, then warm sidewalk and deck.  Finished flower pots and building.  Worked fast, pretending I was outside where I always paint fast.  The trouble with working in the studio is I get slow, fiddle and fuss, over-work and over-worry.  But made myself work fast with this one.  Put thick paint down and left it alone.  

Happy with it!