The Mountains of Maine

Here's a new painting. I started this near Bethel Maine, a couple of miles above Sunday River. The canvas is 24 x 30. That's a standard size for me to work on outside. I am real concerned with brushstroke and handling, so working this size allows me to use big brushes. That gives better handling almost automatically. Here's a rule for you, DO EVERYTHING WITH THE LARGEST BRUSH POSSIBLE. I have of course pecked away at it with some small brushes too, but I am careful not to lose that broad look.
This is the painting that is on my easel in the post" Welcome to my new blog", I worked on it a lot in the studio, I changed the sky completely, and defined the darks across the middleground. There are dozens of small changes over the entire image. That's why I really don't bill myself as a plein air painter. I think most people define plein air painting as doing the whole painting on location. There are plein air painting organizations that try to define a percentage of how much of the painting must be outside. I spend a lot of time working outside so I call what I do......painting outside! When I started doing this in the mid 1970s we knew the phrase plein air but didn't use it. It came into enormous usage maybe ten years ago. I guess it accurately describes an approach, but its not my operating method.
I will now send the painting to a show put on by Banks gallery in Portsmouth New Hampshire. They are located on the campus of Strawberry Banke, the historically recreated village in the center of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If you have never been there its a very fine way io spend an afternoon.