I love to paint outdoors, plein air, when I can, though sometimes I do paint from photographs in the studio. If I do use photographs, I like to also have a study, done on the spot, to use as well. 

This is a study from my latest outdoor painting session. It was evening. See how long the shadows are? The light was warm, and as I painted, I was mixing the colors I saw in the landscape very well. I could stand back from the painting, compare it with the actual scene, and the colors matched.



I did take some pictures of the scene as well. This is what the camera saw:

Where did all that blue come from? The white balance was on "auto." The "cloudy" setting might have been more accurate, but I like the color my eyes saw better. Incidentally, those marshmallow-looking things in the photograph are hay bales wrapped in plastic.