Experiments on Rockaway Beach 98

Lately I feel I have gotten a little too routine with my plein air workflow.

(I'm not saying it's easy, it never will be... but I'm feeling too routine.)

That's not good; it's important to re-evaluate and change things up now and then and try new ways of working. It's important to be uncomfortable.

So I have been looking at how Patrick Okrasinski works because I love his plein airs.

It also seems that 9 times out of 10, the people whose work I like have a classical atelier background.... as Patrick does. (That takes money.  A lot of money.)

Anyhow my palette is 90% the same as his (we both use black, and we use it in the same ways, so take that black-haters!), mostly with the exception of his cadmium lemon (which I use only occasionally) and my PG50 cobalt turquoise, which is definitely not traditional.

Patrick also paints on paper more than I do.

I have a bunch of Arches oil paper and I do love it.

But I generally don't use it for plein air; I love my linen panels.

If I had to travel and was going to do a bunch of paintings, I'd use paper too.

But one other main thing that is different is he doesn't use solvent- only straight-up linseed oil.

Yes I know a lot of people paint solvent-free, but I don't. In general the claims about oil paint and toxicity are way overblown, now that actual turpentine is out of the picture for the most part.

Solvent is just another tool that gives a wide range of technical ability.

But a few days ago I watched one of his plein air videos and decided to try this workflow.

I found it challenging mostly because I still have no idea how he keeps his brushes clean between colors.

I don't even see him wipe them on a rag.

I brought 2 rags.

So anyhow, even though I had the overnight shift on the hotline last night and am half brain-dead, I needed to stay awake so I went to the beach to paint.

I felt a little uncoordinated with the paint handling, my biggest challenge was switching colors and keeping the brushes clean. And layering the paint feels different. This is something I may have to practice a bit in studio, and it's worthwhile to do so.

While I am unlikely to give up solvent, painting like this may give me easier travel options.

Also, the paint feels nice working in this way. I need to try again when I'm not completely brain-dead.

8x10 oil on Arches paper

This pigeon came right over to say hi.

The ocean is magical.