The Flower Seller, plein air oil painting

 

 

 

The Flower Seller

 

 

I've survived my second two-day paint-out, though it took a few naps after the day. Saturday's location was downtown Hillsboro. I walked around the area for quite awhile, taking lots of photos and assessing the area near the courthouse and the farmers market and finally decided to combine elements from two Vietnamese flower seller booths. The day was gray and rainy so I chose a spot under cover of a building overhang and set up my easel. The first step was to make some compositon/value sketches. Once that was done I sketched in the basic design using a brush and thinned blue paint, laid out my colors and started painting.

The painters and interested public were invited to the Walters Cultural Center for a mid-afternoon party on the lawn with live music, food, and wine tasting while the juror decided on awards. No, I didn't take home a ribbon this year, but I did win a large drying box and some panels from RayMar so I was a happy camper. Having this 12 x 16 panel box will enable me to work on larger oils in the field by giving me a safe way to carry the work home.  My work will be shown along with others during August at the Center.

I didn't photograph the painting I did Friday but as soon as I can do so I'll post it for you to see.

I'm happy with both paintings, and even more with myself because I gathered the courage to step up to the challenge of painting in a rather new-to-me medium in public alongside lots of people who do this on a regular basis. Everyone was kind and I hope to paint with a plein air group again.