Since I have done so little plein air painting lately, I was a bit timid to show up at an event and try to compete so I put just two Plein Air events on my calendar - one day events at that!

Cary North Carolina’s Paint the Town event started out with forecasts of rain so I started early. I love the Cary Saturday Farmers Market with its tents and bustle of people.  I was set up on the sidewalk with my car positioned so on one could park and block my view.  I was pretty calm and carefully painted my way to a piece I was happy with. My second attempt was a little more labored but still good enough to turn in to the judges. Two was the limit so I packed up and went home.

At the Auction and Gala my painting, “Saturday Farmers Market”, was awarded Best in Show!  Super exciting for me and I also sold the painting making it even better!

Yesterday a friend and I drove to Elk Creek, Va. to paint in the Solstice paint out at Stonefarm.

My first painting of three small barn/sheds started out nice.with bright color and clear shapes but as I worked on it I lost that freshness.  It took me awhile to realize the canvas I was using and my brushes weren’t playing well together. Then I recalled mounting that canvas on a gator foam board because I was out of 9x12 panels and it all became clear. It was from a new roll of canvas I had not used before - a roll of VALUE PRICED (cheap) canvas which I chose because I was too LAZY to remove the packaging from the roll of nice linen canvas I usually work on.

After lunch that painting was wiped down and I had less than one hour to come up with something to submit for judging and sale.  I took out a small 8x8 Centurion linen panel and turned my easel to face a view of a hillside with magnificent shapes and angles. 45 minutes later I had a pretty nice little piece which was not overworked! This time I got Second Place and my friend, Arlene Daniel, was awarded First Place! Great day - fun people - and the painting sold too!

Note the ALL CAPS because they are highlighting things NOT to do. Being lazy and using inferior material is a way to ruin any painting. We all just need to be reminded once in a while.