Outdoor Still Life

The outdoor still life, is the best way to learn about the light key. On a sunny day still life sitting in the sun is the clearest way to see color.

Many find painting the outdoor still life boring, or they find them hard to sell.  The  idea that they don't sell is what attracts me to paint them. It frees me up from pressure and I can enjoy discovering color notes that I haven't seen before.

Try to think about painting still life as a way to study color. You are not likely to see colorful objects that are in a still life in a pure landscape unless you are painting roses.

I took Charles Hawthorne's advice and got some stuff that's supposed to be ugly, like this rusty frying pan.
Hawthorne said ''Still life gives the widest range for study.

I start the outdoor still life, the same way I approach the north light still life, I start with spots of color one or two colors for each mass. The difference between the north light still life and the out door still, is the light key. The sunny day light key is  much warmer and expresses sunlight.

 In the sunny still,
I find the shadow notes cool and the light planes warm in some cases hot!
This start look very abstract, because I have made very broad notes of color so that I may develop the painting, by studying the color in clear distinct masses.

The study is not a exercise in drawing, it's meant as a study of color. By constantly relating the spots of color the painting will begin to emerge and look  less abstract.
The Study is done when you no longer see any new color notes.

This is very difficult for professional artists they are not able to control themselves and want to finish the painting.
This sort of thinking is dangerous.

Give yourself permission to fail and you will have a wonderful time painting and learn something in the end, that's my thoughts.