Mountain Maryland Plein Air

10x10 pastel on acrylic wallis

OMG! What a roller coaster it has been!!! At moments I felt like a total failure. There's nothing like showing and working with some of the best painters on this side of the country. It was crazy. My thoughts went from"Just give it up, you know nothing" to "yay!"
Let me explain....the biggest frustration happened during the Quick Draw when I boldly decided to complete a 20x10 in 2 hours of time. Not only that, but it was a city scene...building, people and the like (not my faves.) So after I made that foolhardy decision I absentmindedly used a different paper (not wallis or Uart) and it warped when I put the watercolor on it. I will end the disaster at that. Let me move on to the upside...later that same day at the reception I learned that I had won an honorable mention for my painting (posted on Saturday)! My pants nearly fell off me! And then I learned that I had sold my work. Crazy would be an understatement! Up and down. In addition, as you probably already know, my emotions road that painting roller coaster all week. Phew!

One of the best parts of the experience was that I met so many wonderful people: townspeople, painters, and friends of my fabulous hosts. This is the second year I stayed with Bill and John. I just love the way they make me feel as if I am one of the family. Bill kept me rolling in laughter with his stories and John is just an amazing sweetheart. Kelly, who spearheaded that whole event and was the total go- to person, was so generous with her time and energy, always making each one of us feel special. Anne, my housemate, was kind and funny. When my frame was set up to be a vertical and I chose a horizontal, Anne whips out her framing tools and fixes it.

The people of Cumberland are awesome. I will give you an example. When I was painting the field painting I posted on Saturday the farmer began cutting his field. When he noticed I was there painting he came to me and asked if it was OK if he cut or was it a problem. WOW! Can you imagine that?!

All considered, it was a fun, anxiety producing, exhausting, learning experience.

Now for the painting posted above. This is a painting that took the entire week to complete, even though it is 10x10.  I painted at the field by the Martins grocery store..yes Cumberland has fields by  grocery stores ...so much land! The first morning  we had an amazing fog and the sky looked like this. I remembered it and held on the week long as I returned to paint when the sky had no fog.  I simplified the trees (probably too much) and had fun with the glow. It sure gives me ideas for more paintings.