Greetings Art Lovers,

I always enjoy painting outside. It is known as painting “en plein air” or on location.

This is how I created many of the over 90 paintings of The Villages where I live.

You can see the collection “Views of The Villages” on my website www.DianaCrow.com

Diana Crow painting “Lake Sumter Waterfront”

Fourteen years ago I set-up up my studio on my back porch so I could work on oil paintings

in the fresh air in my Florida garden while listening to the symphonies of birdsongs.

Diana Crow at her back porch studio painting a commission.

But this year in 2019 after humid 90 degree temperatures in May it was necessary for me to move

my studio indoors to a corner of our large living room. 

Now I can paint in cool air conditioned comfort day or night with my Revelite Easel Light that is mounted on top of my easel. It shines on both the canvas and my Parallel Palette that is next to the easel. I originally purchased the Revelite EL to use

for Live Event Painting at weddings with a battery pack, but now I am excited to have it available whenever I want to paint.

To nurture my need for nature I surrounded myself with houseplants 

and started painting floral creations like the one below:

“Hummingbirds Love Geraniums” by Diana Crow

Moving my art studio to my living room in June definitely sparked my creativity!

As I gathered all of my supplies and canvases from under the bed and the far reaches of the closets

I created an organized, stimulating environment where my tools are more easily accessible.

With my easel in clear sight it beckons me throughout the day to finish my household chores

so I can paint more often. At 73 years of age it’s like I’m spending the summer at my own “summer art camp.” 

This organized set-up gave me the energy to finally make color charts to learn more about mixing my paints.

This process is described by Master Artist, Richard Schmid with Katie Swatland in the book”Alla Prima II”.

For years I avoided painting indoors because of solvent fumes.

But online research has guided me to safe methods that other artists use.

I purchased an air purifier that colorful floral artist Nancy Medina at www.NancyMedina.com

recommends and I’m removing the pigment from my brushes with baby oil. 

Recently I ordered Brush Dip that I learned about from artist,

Mark Carder at www.DrawMixPaint.com .

I am eager to learn other ways that artists paint safely, so please send me your tips.

My creativity is sparked and I have truly created an anchor for my artistry with my new indoor studio because now I have three paintings in progress and three recently completed, including a portrait!

“Looking Good” by Diana Crow

My creativity is sparked and I no longer have “to make time” to paint....my art studio is now “ready-set-go....”

and when cooler weather arrives I can always go out to paint “en plein air,” or even paint again on the back porch!

Le me know if my story stimulates your creativity and I hope that you enjoy following my progress.

In a future post I’ll show you how I store my artwork.

Blessings and Happy Summer, Diana