Courtyard Foxgloves

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The courtyard where I studio is quite beautiful. There is a beautiful fountain surrounded by planters full of flowers. On Sunday, all of the galleries are closed so I painted with a friend today. This 10" X 20" canvas is rather large for a quick plein air study, so I was nervous about taking on too much.  I was looking directly into brilliant sunlight so it was a real challenge to judge my values. I think the value range may be too narrow to create the effect of brilliant sunlight, but I didn't want to sacrifice the color. I plan to try it again and really push the values. It will be interesting to see the difference between the two paintings.