Paint Snow Hill 2011

Dear Paint Snow Hill,
I love you!!!
Fondly,
Barb



This was my fifth year participating in PSH. And it was the most challenging year of the five. My brain tells me that nothing has changed: I am me, and paint is paint. Then Maureen says, "Ah gooooo!" It's a little different plein air-ing with a nursing baby. I did not actually paint with the baby; Robb and Mo hung out at the old abandoned apartment. But it meant there were no twelve-hour days crunched over an easel or all night framing marathons. I am proud of myself that I went out to paint on Friday and Saturday mornings. I managed to complete 3 paintings and sold 1 to a nice young lady and her mother. They had questions about my work process, but I fear I was too wound up to answer clearly. So I would like to discuss how I made the painting they purchased called "Porter's Crossing" (above), in case they go home and google me. :)





Henbit was out of control this weekend, fields of blazing purple all over the place. The field that really caught my eye was at the corner of Rt. 113 and Porter's Crossing Road. (By Saturday morning the purple was almost completely gone!) I turned onto Porter's Crossing and parked in the farm entrance along the woods line. I waved to the farmer when he drove by on a spreader a little later.



Then I hit the sketchbook to make a quick outline. I used that thumbnail as a reference while I was painting. And, as you can see, I tested out a paint color on it too.



Here is the painting in progress. My paint is lumpy because I usually paint with knives instead of brushes. This technique evolved because I am very lazy about washing paintbrushes. You might also notice how much darker the colors are here than in the final painting. Yep, that's what happens when you squint into the morning sun for a few hours: dark, doom, and gloom. I was just painting along, feeling like I had captured all the vibrant spring colors until I took a break and realized that the light was playing tricks on me. After I corrected the colors, I added some outlining with a china marker, signed it, and sealed it all in with a healthy dose of glossy acrylic gel medium after it was dry back at the house. Speaking of drying, if you see me on the side of the road painting, you will probably see a painting or two drying on my dash board, using the sunlight like an Easy Bake Oven. All of my PSH 2011 photos are here.



Some highlights from the show... Carole Peirson won the Artists' Choice Award for her piece titled Amazing Marsh. Steve Doherty of Plein Air Magazine was in town, so some event photos might be in the next issue. And the magazine Coastal Style will have an article and photos in their May/June issue. All told 33 paintings sold, grossing $10,000 -- that's $2,500 for Arts on the River events (like First Fridays, Winter Blues Jam, and community art projects) and lot of very happy artists!