Loosely based

People ask all the time if I work plein air or in the studio. Of course, this time of year, I'd want to be in the studio anyway. But, most of the year, the oil pastels are not the best plein air medium. They get smooshy in the sun. And goopy--like when you leave your chapstick in a hot car and then try to use it and end up with extra wax all over your face. The same happens with oil pastels.

I usually say that I work from photographs. But, there is a caveat to that. I only loosely base my work on the photo. The piece above is of the one room school house in Black Lake--no longer used for that purpose as we have actual real schools here. And this is as close as I'll ever get to a reference photograph. You can see I see things in a somewhat cheery manner. Must be those rose colored glasses.