The Studio

Yesterday I had a great day painting at the Shenandoah River with two painters who wanted to give plein-air painting a try.

It’s not as easy as you would think.  It takes some planning just to get the equipment to the location and set it up.

Luckily we had a great spot down by the boat landing.  We were lucky to have a picnic table, a trash can and even a porta-potty!  That’s a big deal for plein air painters.  🙂

Jeff looks like he’s been doing this all his life.  And he really got into it.

And here is Mary Lou, who was thrilled to be painting outdoors.

It was fun to see these two fine artists exploring a new aspect to their painting.

River View to the South, oil on canvas panel, 11″x14″   (SOLD)is the first piece I worked on that morning.  I got a splendid start and plan to finish it in the next week or so.  And it’s already spoken for, so that’s good news!

And this is the reference photo for that painting.

I had time to start a second painting but didn’t get quite as far along on it before the sun got to high for the light to work for us.  Just as I got it laid in a boat pulled up with two guys fishing so I put them in the painting.

This is the shot I took of them.  Glad I added them into my painting because one of the wives of the fisherman pulled up to give them lunch (they were fishing in a tournament) and she yelled up to me, “Are you painting my husband fishing?”  Of course I said yes, and she picked up a card and emailed me later in the day to say she’d like to buy it for him for father’s day.

All in all, it was a perfect day for painting.  I helped two great students explore outdoor painting;  I have two sold paintings; and I got to spend the morning with Breezy (Jeff’s dog who came to help us paint)!

An excellent morning.