Plein Air Oil Painting

I went to The Briars in Mt Martha, about an hour drive from Melbourne towards Mornington Peninsula. A good friend of mine is staying in the area, so, we had a joint painting session.

I've never heard of this place, but, it's a gorgeous area. When I looked around, there're great spots for painting everywhere.

The Visitor Centre offers great information about this place, including a short video. There's an enormous effort going on by members of staff and volunteers in order to maintain beautiful nature in a very sustainable way.
And its connection with Napoleon is a fascinating one.

I spent a couple of hours painting this.
I really struggled today, somehow, the panel got very sticky. I've read somewhere before that depending on weather, mineral spirits in medium dry very quickly, and a surface can get tacky while painting outdoors.

I'm not sure if this is the case, but, I did feel paint was not flowing smoothly. Or, it's just my lack of experience.

I'm reasonably happy with its sky (it was cloudy at first) and background forest. But, I don't think I did a good job for the rest of it.
Tricky bit was to paint foreground convincingly, so that it goes downhill. I got an advice from my friend and it looks better now than before.
She also gave me another one to improve grass in middle section. It's really great to have another company.
Small dots that are scattering around in the top area are hey barrels. They are beautiful to look at, but, I just couldn't do it well.

It was a great day.

Oil on panel. 16 x 20 in.