A large part of my practice as an artist is working 'en plein air'. This means that the entire paintings is executed directly in front of the subject rain, hail or shine. For me this is the most wonderful aspect of painting - when one is in a total state of 'flow', feeling the fullness of the experience not just in visual terms but through all the senses in a time-based experience rather than just the momentary snapshot of the photo reference. The joy of trying to encapsulate this in a small postcard sized format against the vagaries of weather, time and light is an endless challenge that I relish. Most of these small 'pochades' work ok, some are inevitably disastrous but when they work well they possess a jewel-like gesturalquality that is hard to rival in studio based work.
