Among the roses

Today I got up and hit the ground walking at a fast pace. Key got a nice “weekend walk” and then I loaded up the car to be at Bush’s Pasture Park by 10am for a shift as the host for Artist in Action‘s Paint the Town event.

I got there in time to set up my little spot and greet the first of the dozen or so artists who joined me through out the day.

It was an interesting day in many respects.

  • There was a children’s flute rehearsal going on in one of the neighboring buildings.
    • Music teachers don’t get paid enough.
  • Salem Art Association was having an exploratory day, so there were a lot of children in the afternoon.
    • Parent’s don’t get paid enough.
  • There was a wedding going on.
    • No one got paid enough.

For my part, I just sat under my shade tent and worked on my task of the day: value sketches. I really struggle with plein air painting and I’ve decided to use this summer of Paint the Town events to work on my skills. I checked out a book from the library entitled “Creating Impressionist Landscapes in Oil” by Colley Whisson because it contained a lot of the basic information about composition, color, value, and tone I feel I need to work on. Today’s focus was value sketches and I spent about 4 hours of my 6 hours on them.

This (on the left) was my first sketch of the day.  On the right is the painted version; I still need some darks “under” the roses.

Okay, this one may not look like a value sketch, but it was. In my  head. At the very least I spent some time planning it. I wish I would have had my watercolor pencils with me.

This one is the closest to exactly following the sketch. It has a nice mood, anyway.

I’m not sure where this came from. It’s actually my strongest painting, but like the crane, I did most of the planning in my head (which really isn’t the point.)

Anyway, six hours of hard work later I’m tired and hungry. But my hosting duty is out of the way and I can just enjoy the other events I attend!