Digital Plein Air

View from Bellevue, 1 3/4" x 2 1/2", Digital painting, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

During my Saturday Landscape Class this weekend, most of the students has bailed due to the heat or because they had lost power from the Friday storms that hit the area pretty hard. The few that did show were blessed with a lovely day in which to paint. It was approaching the nineties by the time we left at 1:00, but it was comfortable in the shade and there was a great breeze by the river. My wife made sure we had lots of ice water and spray bottles that we would use to mist ourselves cool.

With only 3 students to deal assist, I had time to do some work of my own. Unfortunately I had not packed my easel. I did however have my little Nintendo DS with me and thought I would try some plein air digital painting.

 Using the stylus on the little screen which is about 1 3/4" high by 2 1/2 wide, I laid in the above river scene. I imagine I spent about an hour on this. It is not easy to do this outside due to the glare on the screen. The glare is what resulted in the overly saturated colors. I also should have ignored that brick wall at the bottom but I added it to try to show a student something about the color and shape in their painting- it adds nothing to my picture.
I am intrigued to do this on an iPad. The increased size and much more advanced software could make for a very fun, clean and fast way to study nature. Or maybe I should just bring my easel next time.