en plein air.

4.10.12

A couple Saturdays ago, our town had an "En Plein Air" painting contest.  The rules were simple: come get your canvas stamped in the morning, go anywhere within the city limits and paint outside, come back at 3:30 for the judging.

I had been wanting to do a painting of some of the fig leaves in our back yard, so I got my canvas stamped and came back home to paint outside.  It was nice having our kids & dog coming in and out of the house while I was working... kind of what I'm used to when I paint inside.

It was quite a learning experience for me, having done 99.99% of my painting indoors.  First off, painting outside on a blazing-hot day; second, forcing myself to finish a painting in one day; and last but not least, the competition part.

Here are some photos of the process...

Canvas stamped, ready to start working.

You can't see it because the sun bleached it out of the photo, but the fig leaves are sketched out & I'm ready to lay down some paint.

After I got the background painted.

We set up my canopy to shade me from the sun.

The leaves I was painting are just to the right of my easel there.

Progress.

My daughter took this shot without me even knowing... guess I was a bit focused!

Getting close to the end.

Back at the park, setting up our easels for the judging.

The painting that won the "flora/fauna" category is just to the upper right... it was of brightly colored abstract flowers.  It was a very different style than my painting, and I liked it.

It was a good learning experience, and I'm glad I participated.  It's amazing how quickly acrylic paints dry when you're in direct sun!  :)