Tuesday

I was up early. I got ready, ate a small breakfast, packed my painting supplies, and left out the back door of my Airbnb. I looked to the right to see if Dolly was outside. I was greeted by a dramatic view of the field covered in fog. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the sky was already a pale peach color. It was beautiful. I set up my easel and started painting as quickly as possible. I knew this scene would change dramatically by the minutes.

Because of all the grays throughout the painting, I made sure I squeezed out a lot of white paint. I ended up squeezing more out a couple times during my painting process. About a half hour into it, the sun touched as a bright orange red sliver just to the right of a large tree mass. It took my breath away and I wanted it in my painting. I moved it left a bit on my panel so it wasn't too close to the edge. I must have painted it, scraped it, and repainted it almost 10 times. I still couldn't get the color just right but it was close enough. I couldn't linger on it. The scene was getting very light and the fog was starting to burn off. I think I ended up spending no more than 45 minutes on the entire painting.

Looking at it a couple days later, it looked too rushed. The clouds were far too dark too. I should have made the fog with horizontal strokes. That sky hole in the middle of the large tree on the right bugs me too.

This painting did not end up getting submitted at the end of the event, but I do still have it in my drying rack in my basement studio. It may not be a good painting but it's a record of a magic moment I felt in Dexter. It was more exhilarating start to my day than coffee would be (although I did make my daily trip right after this to Joe and Rosie's for a nice cup of their delicious Sumatran blend). I naturally titled this A Perfect Start to the Day. And like all the other paintings I did at the event, this was on an 11" x 14" panel.

While I was drinking my coffee, I looked at the downtown scene for inspiration of my next plein air. There are beautiful colorful buildings with neat architectural elements and I was tempted to try to tackle them when I came across a row of sunflowers in front of a strip mall across the street from the coffeehouse. I've never painted sunflowers before but have always wanted to. My car was close by and I got my set up very quickly.

I ended up having a great time painting this. Fellow artist, Brant MacLean stopped by and gave me some great feedback which helped the focal point pop out better. I got 4 paintings done and it was only Tuesday early afternoon.

In case you're interested in my plein air set up, mine is one that I can set up in just a few minutes and take down in about 10 minutes. Like I mentioned in Part 1, I paint on panels made of 1/8" MDF boards primed with at least 3-4 coats of professional grade acrylic gesso. They're not perfectly smooth, which works beautifully for thick painting with a knife. I use a Leder Easel panel holder that can accommodate panels up to 20". It gets mounted onto a Manfrotto tripod. The palette is a handcrafted "Gloucester" PaletteBox made by Shamrock Boxes. My palette knives and brush are basic ones I buy at my local Blick store. Same with my paints which are made by Utrecht or Gamblin, and my medium which is Gamblin Solvent Free Medium. I carry my wet panels in a Raymar wet panel carrier. I sometimes use my EASyL plein air umbrella from Artwork Essentials to keep the sun off my painting and my palette so my color decisions don't get distorted. I carry the easel, paints and other necessary supplies (rags, trash bags, hand wipes, gloves, etc.) in a backpack I bought at REI.

My choice of tube colors is pretty much a cool and warm version of each primary with a couple other colors. For this event, I brought:

After I got some lunch, I went back to my list of address of possible locations. One of them listed a farm with horses, goats, and chickens. I was intrigued and drove out. I went to the house and met Ellen who was very happy to let me paint anywhere outside on the property. There are a lot of inspiring spots on her farm and I settled on a tire swing tied to a beautiful, old tree with an old wooden structure behind them.

There was a rooster and a hen walking about yards behind me which made me a little nervous. At the Paint Dexter event in 2018, I was bitten and attacked by a rooster on a location paint set up. (A couple of the lady artists thought it was hilarious. They painted roosters at that event and titled them "John's rooster." Too funny.) Happily, the rooster left me alone and I finished this painting in peace.

Again, I had a lot of fun painting this and I'm satisfied with it for the most part. I took my time with the bark on the tree because I wanted to give it depth and sense of form. I enjoyed painting the sunlight touches on the tie too.

I had to stop painting for the day after this one because I would be attending an artists' reception to hang out with the other participants. The get-together was at 42 North Social House. It's always fun to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Some of the artists I only knew online and this would be a great way to finally talk to them in person. 

When it was over, I headed to a nearby Busch's Food Market for some food to have on hand at my place. On the way out, the twilight sky was dark with dramatic storm clouds. It wasn't raining in Dexter yet, but according to my radar app, Hamburg Township and Howell were getting hammered. Later that night, we got some heavy rain where I was staying. I was very grateful it waited until it was time for me to go to sleep for the night.

I was very pleased with my productive day. I got my minimum batch of paintings for the events in case any other days had rain that could prevent me from painting more. That said, I still planned on painting more the next couple days.

Next: Part 3: Wednesday and Thursday.