Paint The Town Day 3 Painting 2

By Friday afternoon the wind was bad!  We looked for a location with a wind block and settled on the wall of an antique store.  I chose this old baby carriage.  During the afternoon, as the sun kept getting lower behind the building, I moved the carriage further and further away so I would still have the strong shadow to paint.

As the wind kept up, my palette had leaves in it, the sun disappeared, and I was gritty and dusty.  However, I loved the painting.  I thought of the many babies that had been pushed in this buggy;  how their mothers had held and loved them just as I had pushed, held and loved my babies.

I think that love shows in a painting (even one with dirt and dust in it.)  Yeah!  I won Best of Show!

Paint The Town - Day 3

Day 3 of the Paint The Town Plein Air Event in Florence, CO had a rule:  paint within 6 blocks of the center of town.  Day 3 for me was Friday of last week, the 5th day of the event.  Even early, the day was overcast and windy.  I drove around the designated area for about 45 minutes looking for something that jumped out and called "paint me, paint me!"  Finally, my friend Dottie Lirette and I parked by the old Depot and decided we would paint something right there.  Sometimes, that's easier.

I had painted a series of alley doors in a plein air event in Walsenburg, CO in May, so knew that I could make this door work.  I set up across a small, dried out creek and painted away.  After just a short time I had to create a wind block.  I turned my car around, opened the back hood, and used that as a wind break.  Even still, I often had to hold on to my easel.  It was really windy!

I moved some of the architectural features around to include them in the painting.  Artistic license is great.  When setting up a still life, you move the objects around until you create what you want.  The same can be done in a plein air piece.  You take what's in front of you and make it work compositonally.

Paint The Town - Day 2 Painting 2

On day 2 afternoon of the Paint The Town Plein Air Event in Florence, CO I painted the hay bales that I'd found on day 1 but couldn't paint due to the wind.  I hoped that the bales hadn't yet been loaded and hauled away.  I was in luck!  And hoped that the wind wouldn't pick up again!  More luck!

The ground was too dry and hard to push my shade umbrella in so I tied it around a conveniently located sign post.  One has to make due!

I left the sky until last and then decided to leave it yellow (the color I had toned the canvas.)  I like that it's just a bit unexpected and how it pulls out the colors of the golden fields.

Paint the Town--Day 2

Last week I painted in the "Paint The Town" Plein Air Event in Florence, CO.  Florence is about 35 miles south of Colorado Springs.  It is most known for its' antique stores and multiple prisons:  both state and federal (Super Max serial killers live their lives out here.)

Anyway, in my life it is also where I paint in the annual event.  The week was very windy and made painting challenging.  My painting from Day 1 was my least favorite of the 5 I painted in my 3 days down there.  Artists submit 4 framed pieces at the end of the week.  Day 1 barn didn't make the cut, and I have since wiped it out.  Day 1 afternoon was too windy to paint.

Day 2 I was drawn to the light and angles of the Perlite Factory (the small, white granules found in gardening soil).  I set up on the edge of the parking lot and painted away.  You can see that by the time I finished the painting there were no longer any window shadows on the building walls.  I do a sketch before I start painting and stick to the darks and lights of the sketch.

I was pretty pleased with how the windows turned out.  I lightened the shadows on the window panes on the right just a bit to show the rusted metal and called it done!