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Ravencroft

The third painting for the Lavender Paint Out.  Ravencroft: elevation 620 ft, 45.2105° N, 122.5599° W.  Beautiful area.  They had already begun to harvest their lavender so some of the rows were already cut. 

Watercolor on hot press cotton watercolor paper.  I purposely used none staining colors so I could quickly lay down my basic color and then pick it back up to create textures and adjust color values quickly.  It was an interesting experiment.  

#LavenderPaintOut, #Ravencroft, #Lavender

Ravencroft

I am continuing to paint for the Lavender Paint Out.  Did you know there are over sixty varieties of lavender?  I had no idea.  The bees sound like a symphony of buzzing.  Busy little creatures.  They didn't hold still long enough to get a picture of one.  I discovered today as I painted at Ravencroft if I wear something lavender I should be prepared to be checked out by the passing bees.  Once I removed the over shirt with purple in it they totally ignored me.  

Lavender Valley

I signed up to participate in the Lavender Festival PaintOut months ago... long before this flare up of sciatica so I'm doing my best to work around my physical issues.  Fortunately we have weeks to work, not just days.  

As I began working on this I kept looking at the mountain. Wow.  I had to keep reminding myself the focus was supposed to be the lavender but who could resist this view?  Once I got the basics sketched on my paper I sat there wondering how in the world does one paint the delicate lavender in a convincing manner.  It didn't help the sun was moving the shadows as I worked. I decided the point was to make a reasonable facsimile of what I saw. I had no idea purple and green play so well together.  

#lavender, #LavenderValley, #HoodRiver, #MtHood, #LavenderFestival

Lake Oswego Plein Air Show

The Lake Oswego Paint Out folks graciously allowed me to show in the show. You'll notice almost half is missing from the original drawing I posted. That's a compromise I had to make to have something ready in time to hang in the show thanks to the nagging sciatica I was experiencing. Understandably I can't be part of the competition because I had to work outside the allotted time frame for the event. This was the best I could do under the circumstances. Even still I am grateful to have gotten this far on the piece and still be in the show.

The show will be up through August 3rd. Stop by to check it out: 510 1st Street, Lake Oswego.

PS - Apparently realism is not in vogue these days. I am the only one who worked in this style.  

Lake Oswego Plein Air Event - Part 2

It greatly pains me to say (no pun intended) I had to withdraw from the Lake Oswego Plein Air Event this year. I somehow badly aggravated my sciatic nerve which unexpectedly laid me up for the three days I needed to be out painting on site. I'm on the mend and will be following up with my doc to figure out what's going on so I don't have a repeat in the future. Here's as far as I got painting during the competition. If you've ever been to Marylhurst you know right where this is.

The day I was able to spend working out on the lawn was a great way to reminisce about my experiences at the college. I wish I could have finished the piece in time to be in the show but I'll get back out and finish sometime this summer.

Lake Oswego Plein Air Event - The Beginning

It was supposed to start raining at 3pm according to the forecast. It began with a few patters at 3:22 which I took as my hint to pack up. Good thing I did. A half hour later it was a torrential downpour. All the way home I was pondering how to finish this since the ideal angle is in the middle of the grass field in front. Watercolor and rain... not a good mix.  I arrived home to an email offering us the ability to work Monday and Tuesday which are forecasted to be dry. Awesomeness.

What the "office" looks like: