My favorite yearly plein air event has come and gone again! This is the first year that I’ve been able to paint from the park that’s central to the event (previous years I’ve been chased under businesses’ awnings by the rain). It’s a beautiful neighborhood, and so many of the gardens and architecture beg to be painted.
I eyed up some contenders for my subject in the hour before the competition started. Note to self: arrive early more often.
While the above caught my eye, I eventually fell in love with a cozy cottage catching a few spots of sunlight in a nook between large trees with unique bark patterns:
I spent the 30 min leading up to start time with a value drawing to remind myself of the features of this scene that had called to me initially.
I had a lot of fun conversations with park-walkers while painting (possibly thanks to my new sign?). Many, many people questioned what I was painting with (jelly gouache), so I wrote a bit about the medium here. To all new friends who were given a business card and told you could contact me with the email on my website: my apologies! That link has since been fixed.
Two hours goes by extremely quickly when painting. I was a bit wimpy with my darks while color-mixing, and the resulting painting wasn’t quite as moody or cozy as I intended. Over-brightness is often an issue I have with mixing jelly gouache. I was happy with the relatively lighter kit that I brought with me though. Next time, I might swap out some of my current jelly gouache tubs for darker colors, and possibly pare down the color selection that I bring.
The ultimate winner of the event solidly earned it with a stunning composition capturing the morning light in an ambitious subject. Absolutely stunning! I knew it would win the second I saw it.
To any plein air painters near the Central PA region: I’d love to see you next year! Sign-ups tend to open on the event’s website around March.
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