Stress benefit

May 7 found twenty of us artists scattered among various vineyards on the benches above Okanagan Lake. Our mission was to complete at least one plein-air painting to donate in support of a public art facility in a nearby major center. Typically I would paint outdoors in a small managable format - 8"X10". This day I decided to feed off the need to complete a reasonable painting in a short time and amped up the stress a bit by painting a 24"X24" canvas.
I find its usually a positive thing to impose a little stress on my work occasionally - certainly clarifies the mind and sometimes results in a painting with some character; you be the judge.
At mid afternoon I visited with another painter who was squirreled away at the top of the vineyard far away from the visiting wine-tasters and fellow painters. He is a well- established watercolorist who has painted professionaly for over thirty years. I looked at his two pieces.
The first was a 4-5 hour fully rendered overview of the rolling land , vines, buildings and lake. It was very believable and rang true but felt stiff to me, more illustration of facts than a feeling of the place.
The second painting he had just begun and he ripped it off confidently and very skillfully in front of my eyes in maybe 10 minutes. As great watercolors can this one absolutely captured the feeling of that panorama, that day.
Looking at the two paintings , framed and displayed in the gallery a few weeks later, the second painting took me right back to the sensations of the day in the vineyard.
Considering painting it seems to me that solid and emotive art needs to be put down quickly and without too much analyisis - but only achieves success when standing on a large foundation of disciplined work.
So, back to work for me.