Late afternoon or early evening has always been my favorite time of day. I like the feeling that the day’s accomplishments are behind me and that a well-deserved rest is at hand. For me it is time to stand back from the days painting so that I can take a good look with a critical eye. It is the time to wipe off the brushes, scrape the palette clean and pack everything up for the hike back to the car.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of small oil sketches on site with the idea of reworking them larger in the studio and “Caumsett Shadows” is one of those pieces. I was very pleased with this particular sketch, the light was just right and the large cumulous clouds kept following each other through my composition like silent giants. What was most important to me was that I could maintain the freshness of the quick oil sketch while rendering it on the much larger, more finished canvas, and I am very happy with the result.
