The week of my birthday, I gleefully hopped in my car and buzzed down to Faytteville for a plein air workshop with artist Diane Johnson. It was a birthday gift to myself--and a swift kick in the pants as far as motivation goes. The ride down was full of heavy traffic (because Fayetteville is nasty like that), but once I arrived at Cape Fear Studios, I just fell in love with painting all over again.
On Friday night, we had a brief meet and greet, and then I stayed up half the night reading my latest Jodi Piccoult novel and eating jelly beans. In spite of my midnight novel rendezvous, I woke up early Saturday morning and met all the painter ladies to travel to a breathtaking farm outside of the city.
I immediately settled on the subject of a beautiful tree-line and a perfect reflection in the still lake behind the farmhouse. It was a gray day, but that worked in our favor because it shielded us from the glaring sun. I was so excited to find this composition-- mainly because I've been looking at a series that Monet did of a similar subject. If I lived on that farm, I would paint this scene on a daily basis-- or realistically--at least several times a year!
When I was about 75% finished with this painting, it started to rain. It wasn't a horrible ran though, so I was able to finish it before packing it in for lunch.
After lunch, I watched Diane give a demo and I was completely inspired for my next painting-- another view of the lake and the trees. This one was harder because the light kept shifting. Sun would come out and then hide again, and the wind started picking up and disturbing the reflections in the lake. I'm still happy with the result in spite of the difficulties.
We packed everything up on Saturday and gorged ourselves on local strawberries and other delicious food. I had to stop on my trip back home to purchase a whole box of the fresh strawberries. There is NOTHING like a vine-ripe strawberry warmed in the sunshine-- nothing. Once Dave and I move into a house again, I want to learn how to make strawberry jam. It may be a next summer project, but I can hardly stop thinking about it even now.
Sunday was more of a challenge. I woke up to ominous cloudy skies and a whipping wind. At the studios, we reluctantly decided not to make our pilgrimage to the botanical gardens for another painting day. All the ladies were smart enough to stay inside and learn about color mixing except for me--- I ventured out into the 20 mph gusts with my brush. I'm just like that-- stubborn.
I was out there long enough to pick a composition and being a blustery painting-- but then my palette started to blow away-- trailing paint all over everything. I cleaned up what I could and then shoved all of it in the trunk of my car. Oh well. Later in the week, I returned to finish it up and it's currently one of my favorite little paintings! There is definitely movement in the work, but I made it look much more sunny and bright than it actually was.
When the workshop ended, I came home to a wonderful home-cooked meal from Dave-- It was part of my birthday surprise. At 27, I have this to say-- I am lucky, I am happy, I am blessed, I am content, and I am grateful.
On Friday night, we had a brief meet and greet, and then I stayed up half the night reading my latest Jodi Piccoult novel and eating jelly beans. In spite of my midnight novel rendezvous, I woke up early Saturday morning and met all the painter ladies to travel to a breathtaking farm outside of the city.
I immediately settled on the subject of a beautiful tree-line and a perfect reflection in the still lake behind the farmhouse. It was a gray day, but that worked in our favor because it shielded us from the glaring sun. I was so excited to find this composition-- mainly because I've been looking at a series that Monet did of a similar subject. If I lived on that farm, I would paint this scene on a daily basis-- or realistically--at least several times a year!
When I was about 75% finished with this painting, it started to rain. It wasn't a horrible ran though, so I was able to finish it before packing it in for lunch.
After lunch, I watched Diane give a demo and I was completely inspired for my next painting-- another view of the lake and the trees. This one was harder because the light kept shifting. Sun would come out and then hide again, and the wind started picking up and disturbing the reflections in the lake. I'm still happy with the result in spite of the difficulties.
We packed everything up on Saturday and gorged ourselves on local strawberries and other delicious food. I had to stop on my trip back home to purchase a whole box of the fresh strawberries. There is NOTHING like a vine-ripe strawberry warmed in the sunshine-- nothing. Once Dave and I move into a house again, I want to learn how to make strawberry jam. It may be a next summer project, but I can hardly stop thinking about it even now.
Sunday was more of a challenge. I woke up to ominous cloudy skies and a whipping wind. At the studios, we reluctantly decided not to make our pilgrimage to the botanical gardens for another painting day. All the ladies were smart enough to stay inside and learn about color mixing except for me--- I ventured out into the 20 mph gusts with my brush. I'm just like that-- stubborn.
I was out there long enough to pick a composition and being a blustery painting-- but then my palette started to blow away-- trailing paint all over everything. I cleaned up what I could and then shoved all of it in the trunk of my car. Oh well. Later in the week, I returned to finish it up and it's currently one of my favorite little paintings! There is definitely movement in the work, but I made it look much more sunny and bright than it actually was.
When the workshop ended, I came home to a wonderful home-cooked meal from Dave-- It was part of my birthday surprise. At 27, I have this to say-- I am lucky, I am happy, I am blessed, I am content, and I am grateful.
4 comments:
Your art is delightful. At some point, we'd love to feature you on Greensboro Daily Photo! Had hoped to get to Asheboro tonight but time did not permit. Best of luck with your art!
Jan
GDP
Jan, Thank you so much! I'd love to send you a photo. Hopefully I'll get to meet you down the line at another show... will post pics of The Vivid Fog soon.
i love that you ventured out on the blustery day, even though you were the only one! such a katie thing to do!!! to make the most of EVERY opportunity. and then, you ended up with that masterpiece! LOVE IT! can't wait to hear about your events went this weekend!
Hi Katie! Beautiful work! I was in Artsplosure last weekend, had a great time. I didn't realize NC is so pretty! Thanks for the comment on my blog. Hope you did well at the festival. I did OK :) Susan Best
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