A couple of my teachers (Jim Smyth and Ovanes Berberian come to mind) talk about the idea of using the left-over paint from a painting and doing a much smaller quick study aftewards. I was on Edgewood Road by my home the other day, finding places to paint. I ended up doing the 9×12″ painting in my previous post, of a hillside and distant oak. I probably spent about 60 minutes on it–not sure, you know how time does fly when you’re having fun. When I finished, the light was even better! I love late afternoon light, so I turned around and saw the scene represented below.

I had piles of paint in generally the right value, etc, so it was easy for me to complete this 6×8″ study in about 10 minutes. Of course, when I got home, which do you think Mike liked? The 6×8″, of course! It does have a directness that I really like. Each stroke was laid and left alone. This is something I’ll continue to try, I like the results.

Golden Light Hillside, Edgewood Road – Oil on Linen – 6×8″

Have you had this experience? Would love to see other examples. If you send them to me I’ll post them, or share a URL in your comment on this post.