'Plein Air' Painting - In the Open Air

With the milder weather, I have been venturing outside to make oil paintings directly from the landscape.  My usual studio method is to work from photos and memories of experiences in nature, so doing this poses unique challenges. The painting above is an outlook over the Blue Mountains, where I have my studio. Unlike Cape Town, where I spent my youth looking upwards toward Table Mountain and Devil's Peak, here I look over the valleys and the ranges. The sky seems so expansive and I am reminded of John Constable's invention of the verb 'to sky' - meaning, "to lie on one's back and study the clouds".