Oak Openings last week - a plein air 16" x 16"

It was a really hot day and I wanted to get in some practice for the paintout at Lakeside this weekend so I decided to paint in a shady area at Oak Openings, a metro park near my home. There was a nice breeze and I was congratulating myself on staying cool in the 95 degree heat when a big gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew my easel over. Of course the painting landed face down, it nearly always does when that happens. OK, it;s not the first time I've had to pick out gravel, grass, weeds, and dirt out of a wet painting but that doesn't make me any happier. I scraped off the dirt and excess paint and spent another 15 minutes repairing the piece and i think it is actually a better painting for it. Maybe I'm just telling myself what I want to hear..

Summer Porch 11" x 14"

I love this painting... one of the few I have designated as a "keeper". Painted in two sessions on the porch of the house we stayed at in Franklin, NC. It's a nice memento of the trip.

The Pond on Brown Road

Our group of Plein Air Painters met at this house on Brown Rd. last week and it was a beautiful morning. The pond and surrounding trees were like a mini-paradise.

Some more paintings from North Carolina

People have been asking me to post the rest of the paintings I did on the trip. So here are a few more. One is a piece I did inside after painting all day in the hot sun. I needed some down time so I set up the still life in a small room off the kitchen. I placed the objects on a table in North light. I find painting still life to be so relaxing after a day of fighting the elements. The other painting is a view form on a mountain facing some more mountains. It was a spectacular view, which the people living there probably never fully appreciate because they live there.

Back from the Mountains

I had an awesome vacation in the North Carolina mountains. It's an incredibly beautiful area and although the weather was a bit warmer than it usually is (according to people we talked to) it was still OK because the nights cooled off. I enjoy painting in the morning when my energy level is up and the light is nice that time of day too.
Here are a few of the paintings I completed ion the latter days of my vacation. I'll post the rest next week. I am busy framing them and deciding which ones will be saved for show, which will get listed on eBay and which will go to the local gallery. All in all it was a productive week. The drive home was pretty grueling but I can't really complain because I do have air conditioning and it was 95-98 degrees here in the Midwest that day.

This is Iota Valley, in a view from Iota Baptist Church near Franklin, NC

Here also is a painting I did on the porch of the cabin where we stayed. I loved the shadows cast by the old tin watering can.