But It Didn't Rain!

 A Chilly Fall Paint Out Weekend

Last weekend was FRESH 2020, a plein air paint out that I signed up for in September. Typically this Paint Out is in June but this year it was postponed/rescheduled to the first weekend in October. The weekend before it was 80s and sunny --oh I would have loved that weather for a paint out. 

Orange Pop 8x10

Right before our paint out there was a cold snap, the coldest weather of the Fall with FROST warnings! I wore thermals, layers, fingerless gloves, handwarmers, scarf and hat yet still my hand and bum were cold! Days started in the low 40s and it was chilly and breezy at the park--Brrrr!!!!!!! But it didn't rain and there were no bugs.

While I didn't like the weather,  I did love the pop of fall colors so that I could add touches of red orange and yellow to my typically green trees. The first day I struggled (which I did not like as I had prepared)-- I have been painting one hour 8x10 plein air paintings for weeks now. I'd assumed that quick paintings would really help me get the paint down at this event. I started with a 9x12 canvas and it took me some time to get the canvas covered--admittedly it was a complex scene of multiple trees, and a shoreline with water reflection. Still, I didn't like that it took me awhile to get the painting down--have I mentioned how cold and breezy it was? At the end of the day, because I was waiting for another painter, I took out a 5x7 canvas and did a quick sky painting. The sky painting was fast and fun with tons of wet paint on the clouds. Framing the cloud painting was tough as it was wet wet with tons of paint!

The next day dawned frosty and super chilly-- it was ridiculously cold when we started painting. However, I was more inspired because there was a fabulous orange tree reflection in the water and I loved that. The orange tree against the dark trees with orange reflection really spoke to me. 

In the afternoon I turned my chair and decided to paint a colorful island. I really liked the orange and red trees against the green trees and blue waters. I felt good about this painting too, particularly the reflections. This painting I did not put into this show, but I have entered it into another show (only 3 paintings could be entered in this event).

The critical keys to surviving this cold weather paint out included daytime layers, hot soups at home with hot tea followed by warm showers before bed... We artists can be thankful that despite the cold, it did not rain on us! Of course this coming weekend the weather will be back in the 70s-- I'm off to plein air paint! Yay sunshine and warmth!

Kudos to my fellow FRESH plein air art friends, you did some amazing works! All of the wonderful FRESH paint out paintings  can be seen here, take a look! 

http://milfordvfaa.org/fresh2020/