An Artist's Guide to Plein Air Painting Oct. 2015 | Page 31

P a g e | 30 STEP 6 REFINE SHAPES & COLOR Figure 17 Refine Shapes This middle stage can lull any painter into a false sense of security. What happens is that we forget our plan or concept. We are merrily painting shapes and it is easy to fall into a meditative state. It is very relaxing until you suddenly realise that this painting is losing direction. Help! Remember when this happens fall back on keeping the light and dark family of shapes in place. You are looking firstly for strong light and for this to happen there must be shadow and cool color shapes. If there is a feeling of light and air in your landscape then you are almost home and dry. Do not overwork it. Look at finishing the painting. An Artist’s Guide to Plein Air Painting Malcolm Dewey