“Vacancy” was painted in my backyard under a maple tree on a rare, warm April day. I love bringing my studio outside, and it’s one of the reasons I enjoy plein air painting. True, there are often issues that aren’t found in an indoor studio – like bugs, noise, blistering hot or icy cold temperatures – but I’ve learned how to avoid most of those unfavorable conditions most of the time.
I wasn’t able to avoid the tree debris that kept dropping from the maple I was sitting underneath — but it wasn’t that intolerable – just mildly annoying when I had to pick it out of my oil paint or off the painting.
Jana R. Johnson, Artist 