During my recent watercolor workshop on the beautiful unspoiled Beara Peninsula of Ireland, I found myself standing by this old ruin, just a few steps from the main street of Eyeries. I thought that a demonstration of how I might paint old rock walls and stones would be valuable to the class and so I set up my easel and began.
Behind me was a hedge filled with wild fuchsia, back lit by
the sun. Birds swept overhead; the temperature was perfect - I was
overcome by a sense of well-being and I think I could safely say -
"euphoria".
That night I had barely gotten into bed when I just had to get up and write this in my journal:
Standing in the tall grass under a bush laden with
cascading fuchsia blossoms - birds are singing, swifts too numerous to
count darting overhead. The sun is shining. Paint going down on paper,
merging, meeting, blending colors - the lovely meeting of grey-blue,
cerulean and bronze- friends nearby - I was struck by such a powerful
feeling:
"THIS is why I love painting".
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| My Unfinished Plein Air Painting |
"THIS is why I love painting".
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| Wild Fuchsias |
