Plein Air Painting at Fletcher's Boathouse

Plein Air Painting at Fletcher's Boathouse  Water's Edge, 16 x 20, oil on linen         Most of my landscape paintings begin with a plein air sketch at a park or some other favorite location.  On this fall day, I and other members of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters met at the historic Fletcher's Boathouse, known for fishing, rowing, and canoeing on the Potomac River near Georgetown in DC.         I have a long history with Fletcher's.  When I was growing up in the Maryland suburbs, my father owned an outboard motor and occasionally would load it into the old Chevy along with my mother, me, and a picnic lunch and head down to Fletcher's Boathouse, where we would rent a rowboat and navigate up the Potomac.  We usually discovered a spot on the Virginia side, where we could pull the boat up onto the shore, climb up the river's edge a bit, and have our picnic lunch. Lots of good memories.         Over the years, I have painted many times at Fletcher's. This particular day I wanted to paint the scene down river from the boathouse.   These are reference pictures of the scene I painted.  It was a gorgeous day, a little breeze, no mosquitoes, just a few other folks out fishing and picnicking.  This shows a little more of the Virginia side of the Potomac River and the colorful reflections.  The trees were just beginning to show their fall colors.  Above is the plein air sketch, where I combined the two scenes above. However, I thought the result rather ugly, particularly the foreground.  At my old faithful French easel, just getting started: my palette is still rather neat and tidy.            The painting River's Edge at the top reflects the changes I made to the sketch, incorporating elements from the two reference photos.        In future newsletters, I will share other plein air excursions, painting trips, and other events. You may expect a Nuss News from me the first day of each month.

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