Spring Painting

Spring was late this year. I didn't start painting until mid May although I had a number of ideas lined up. I broke the ice this year by painting a small canvas of my wife's daffodils. And "breaking the ice" is pretty close to reality.

We had four or five days in mid April that were quite nice, and that brought the flowers out, but it soon got cold. Some days, it didn't rise about the 30s, and otherwise the weather stayed in the low 40s. Most people who paint outdoors have experienced this, and it's best to deal with it using old, warm clothing, and paint while standing. Unfortunately, the flowers were low to the ground, and I had to sit while painting. That made it colder.

What made it worse was that there was a constant cold breeze coming either out of the north, or off of Lake Michigan. Much of this blew up my seated back. It took a number of short sittings to get this done, and on the last day, the temperature finally got up into the 50s.

After that, I had plans to start a number of paintings. The first was in a park, north of where I live. Patches of violets bloom in the grass in mid May, and the dandelions soon follow. By early June, the trees have finished leafing, so I timed that painting to those occasions. So far, it 's worked pretty well.

I've also started a painting of the late afternoon sky an hour or so before sunset. My wife has commented on the skies in my paintings, which tend to reflect the lack of drama at sunset. So I thought I'd take a stab at painting a sky. The bottom four or five inches of the painting was decidated to the horizon, which included car dealerships, the trees on the horizon, and a field in front of it all. It looks pretty good so far.

On one evening, I did sketch out the clouds in the sky, but I have been waiting for anothe sky like that to continue working. Unfortunately, since that one evening, we've had had no clouds or rain, so the painting is on hold. The lack of rain is also affecting a painting I had planned of a stream in one of our local parks. The water level is now too low to work on it.

During this time, I also entered two juried art shows, with only one having responded, so far. Its possible that I've been rejected, but I would think that having paid an entry fee, I should hear from them regarding whether I've been accepted or not. As I have heard nothing, it leaves me thinking they have not yet finished their entry processing and jurying, although they are both past due.

As for the show that I'm in, it's called Metro Montage XXIII, and it's at the Marietta Cobb Museum Of Art in Marietta, Georgia. Marietta is a suburb of Atlanta, and from people I know who've been there, it 's a very nice town. The painting that's being exhibited is River Hill Park. You can see it on my portfolio page. If you'd like to know more about the museum, here is their web address:

http://www.mariettacobbartmuseum.org/

And if you'd like to see the show,here is the museum's address: 30 Atlanta Street SE Marietta, GA 30060

Next time, If I finally hear from the two other juried shows, I'll talk abaout those shows in general.