Got an early start on Sunday morning, as the forecast was calling for a good chance of rain. I thought to perhaps do last evenings painting again but when I stopped at the Bayview fields the sky was gray, the water and islands lost in haze. A few miles down, the sun came out as I turned onto Box Iron and saw these huge clouds marching north south above an old chicken house. Stopped, set up and quickly went at getting the clouds and sky down as it was a windy day. Since there is so often a good breeze blowing in these parts, this was really windy! The color of the field, the trees, the sky, cloud colors, even the dilapidated chicken house had good color. Only once the sky was laid in did I work on the rest and then only until the clouds closed in.
"Sentinel Trees" available"
After that the light had changed drastically. Let's face it, after a few hours on the best of days the light changes the scene being painted completely. Time to find a new spot. Saturday evening, Ann Coates put on her feast for the artists which is a really nice thing to do. I stopped by the gallery, Bishop's Stock, for a donut & coffee. I wasn't sure where to go next and Ann graciously offered property in her family. No one had gone there yet this year, would I care to? Yes, indeed! So for the rest of the day I had Cropper's Island, a piece of land jutting out into the bay, to myself. I set up for the Sentinel Trees first. Beyond them lay a corn field still harboring some winter wheat and the marshes surrounding all. The winds whipped up waves and the skies were cloud filled and spectacular. For a few hours my attention was focused totally here.
After I walked the farm field at this end of the island. There is a great long stand of cedars and beyond them crashing waves that I wanted to check out. As only a few months ago, because of thyroid problems, such a walk was impossible, it felt especially good to be striding out quickly! A fair number of deer prints show its a favorite haunt of theirs. Back closer to the causeway, a young eagle glided over the treeline towards the far marshes and I decided to set up near there to sketch the interrupted line of pines midway across the marsh. Once again, some dramatic cloudscape demanded attention first before settling into painting the marshes and water trails.
"Cropper's Island Marsh" SOLD
For all these paintings I used mostly the new Blue Ridge oil paints that I just got and really like. I like the naples & yellow ochre, the prussian blue is useful as are the earth colors also. These paints are easy to use and I don't feel like I'm fighting them or require lots of medium to make them usable. When needed I used a little medium, still the c. balsam, stand & spike mix I like.
Like last year, I had a great time. Like last year, I painted some paintings I liked, some not so and like last year, I met very, very few people. Course, most of the time I was painting out in the middle of no where and totally enjoying the time spent painting. Hopefully a few of these will get juried into the May show!
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