I had so many fears to overcome with outdoor (or plein air) painting. First, what if anyone saw how bad I was. The second fear was joining a group of outstanding artists, some who are pros with their own studios.

What you see in this video is how friendly, sociable and inspiring a group of new friends can become. About 20 members of Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky (PAACK) gathered this week at a Kentucky River waterfall near Salvisa, Kentucky.

Ken Garcia and his daughter Lucy hosted us at the Cummins Ferry RV Resort that Garcia co-owns.

Please watch to the end to see how each artist finished their view of the waterfall. It really is very valuable to see how each person can see and paint the same scene so differently and wonderfully.

Barren County Barn was among the choices you all chose from my favorite landscape photos.

I completed this during the cold and rainy days of early spring and finished during the rain that continued all day today.

My compositional challenge was deciding what to do with all those foreground corn stalks. I decided to keep them abstract, loose, and just as out of focus of how our own eyes would see a scene drawn to the tree in sunlight at right and the distant barn.

I like the simplicity of this scene. It is surprising how challenging it is to simplify a scene. Notice how the trees in the distance are suggested, the edges are kept soft, and the value turns almost as light as the sky.
This was done on a 16x20 inch canvas.
#oilpainting #kentuckyartist

A 50-second video of 50 minutes of fun. This oil sketch on 5x7 canvas continues my daily quest to do a plein air study. In this case, the plein air was a still life of the Earth and not from the International Space Station.​

Great outdoor scenes for plein air painting are as close as the back yard. 

I used to spend all kinds of time and miles driving to find the perfect spot for a painting. But then I learned from a number of professional outdoor artists that you should "bloom where you are planted." In other words, there is a scene to be painted in any direction of where you already stand.

This calm and quiet video shares the beauty of our Kentucky back yard in bloom and all of the potential and actual scenes to be painted

Episode 32 covers why Monet kept painting the same scenes over and over. I try the same from Frankfort Cemetery, overlooking the Kentucky River and Kentucky Capitol.

A landscape oil painting at Kentucky's Shaker Village. I was captivated by the morning sun shadow on the side of this stone meeting place on the far west side of the historic village.

In the far left is a red barn where the horses and stable are located.

Wednesday was the first paint out of the year with Plein Air Painters of the Bluegrass, one of two plein air groups I have now joined.

I had to overcome fear of painting in public and then doing so with outstanding professional artists with their own studios. I was pleasantly surprised with how encouraging and inspiring other artists are. I think they understand the constant struggle and problem-solving of creating art.

We all are at different levels of experience and ability, but the quest for perfection always seems just out of reach. I believe that is the secret of why artists are a happy, encouraging, persistent, helpful lot. We're all struggling together.