My apologies for having taken so long to post to this blog – it’s just been incredibly busy over the past few weeks. I’ve also missed a lot of beautiful fall days when I would have loved to be outside painting. Just too much going on, and I clearly over-committed myself (6 shows in 3 months is just stupid). Not sure how/when that happened, exactly: I just woke up one morning and found myself in over my head. And while that was happening, the summer of 2011 went by like a bullet train, with more than our usual share of rain-outs, so that now, in the second week of November, I feel like I have very little to show for the last 6 months…….or maybe I should just stop whining and get back to work! Our last two sessions were a lot of fun. On October 22 we were at a local farm, at the owner’s invitation. The day was cloudy but mild and the 5 of us – me, Maria, Barbara, Rita C., and Jane – had fun painting the old weathered barn and watching the flock of geese perambulate around the yard. I am not terribly thrilled with the painting I produced: as I usually do on cloudy days, I got everything too dark. I will spend some time on it in the studio, though, and see if it can be saved. The last session for 2011 was October 28, at Scott’s Cove. It was a sunny, cold day with the glowing colors of the turning leaves reflected in the water of the reservoir. I was able to work for only an hour before my hands and nose got too cold. This is a small piece – just 6” x 10” – but it captures the peace of the morning, I think. I have photos, as well, so I may use this sketch and the photos to develop a larger studio piece later on.

And that was it for the 2011 sessions: we’ll start up again in May 2012. If you’d like to be added to the Howard County Plein Air alias and receive notices about the 2012 schedule, just use the “Contact” function on my website to let me know.

Well, we were able to paint on only one of the four sessions scheduled during this period. This past month was the rainiest September on record for Baltimore, and October so far has been equally disappointing. On September 24 I tried to paint at the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge (I was the only one stupid…er, optimistic enough to show up) but while it wasn’t actually raining, there was so much damp in the air that my mounted paper actually was staring to curl by the time I got to my chosen site. Golly. On October 1, I tried again at the Howard County Conservancy’s Fall Festival, but the dense clouds and soaking ground defeated me. I did not see any other artists there. On October 7, though, we got lucky. Rita C. and Brenda joined me at the Orange-Avalon area of the Patapsco Valley State Park, and while the ground was still quite damp, at least there was sun. I think I may have been a bit stunned by the unaccustomed sunlight…I tried a small 8x10 of sun and shadow on birches, but only the top half of the painting was successful (so, it’s more like an 8 x 5!) and I need to work on it when life gets a little less hectic. And today we were supposed to be at Cromwell Valley Park, up north of Baltimore, but again we got rained out. We’ve got only two more sessions scheduled for 2011…I sure hope the weather starts cooperating!

This was the only scheduled day in the last three weeks that was dry enough to paint. It seems like it’s been raining forever…since before I moved here…since before I was born. Not only is the lack of sunlight a strong disincentive, but the humidity curls my paper, and the number, size, and ferocity of the mosquitos makes me think I’m in Zombieland. As I write this I’m covered in welts and am going through allergy ointment in the 5 lb vats. Ah, the joys of nature. We had to skip September 9 (Cylburn Arboretum) and September 24 (Patuxent Wildlife Refuge), but the 16^th at Quiet Waters was indeed a nice day. Rita C. and Barbara S. joined me there, and we had a lovely view across the South River. I again painted the north gazebo, this time from a slightly different angle, and am mainly pleased with the result. I can’t wait for this weather to break…maybe this is the year I take up plein air in the snow!

Back to our regular Howard County plein air schedule! We were set to go to Brookside Gardens today. The forecast was calling for storms in the afternoon, but not long after I arrived, around 9:30, the sky clouded over and I could hear thunder. We never really got the sun back for more than a minute or two the rest of the morning. There were four of us - me, Barbara, Adron, and Cathy (although I think there may have been others whom I did not see) – and I was the only one of us to paint, although I had my doubts. I set up under the Anderson Pavilion, which provided shelter when it finally started to rain. The other three took a lot of photos and walked the paths: neither Adron nor Cathy had been there before and it’s pretty overwhelming the first time. We try to get there to paint twice a year, and this was our second time for 2011: the first time on the schedule was May 14, and that was a very wet day – no one went. Today I made do with the view from the pavilion, even without much good light, and completed “Brookside Gazebo” before heading back home.

This was not a sunny day by any stretch of the imagination, but one of the members of Karen’s Paint 360 group who lives in Sherwood Forest, a gated waterfront community outside Annapolis, had invited the group to paint along the Severn River, and I gladly joined in. We had a good turn-out, even though it was a bit gloomy. My painting, “Gray Day on the Severn,” reflects that: low clouds, no shadows, and cool mid-values. Once done and in the critique, though, I realized I’d gotten a bit too dark, so once back in the studio, I lightened it up and added another piling in the background: Karen said that having only one made it look “lonely,” and she was right. My thanks to Izzy for the invitation!

We got through Hurricane Irene all right, but not without a lot of anxiety. Lost power very briefly a couple of times early Sunday morning, and had some willow limbs down, but that was about it. The week following the hurricane is just beautiful, though, and I feel like I haven’t been out to paint in ages. Harry’s doing better, too, so I packed up my gear and went to the Orange-Avalon area of the Patapsco Valley State Park. It was sunny, clear, and not too humid. There were still plenty of signs of Irene’s presence, but no flooding. I set up in front of a little stone bridge that I’ve been meaning to paint for a few years, now…it just carries a path over a culvert, but is nicely shaped, and had good tree shadows on it. There were lots of people out at the park, enjoying the fine weather, and it was a good morning. I completed “Stone Bridge” on site.

Another session I had to miss. Harry, our 14-year-old male tabby, has been diagnosed with diabetes, and we started him on insulin today. As it was his first day, I stayed home to make sure he was OK.

I’m glad now I decided to paint at the Living Farm Heritage Museum on the 11^th, since I was not able to attend the plein air session scheduled for there today. We needed to get one of our 14-year-old cats to the vet…he’s not doing too well and we’re growing concerned. Hope to hear some results of the lab tests next week.

I was feeling encouraged by my success on Thursday when I got to Lake Kittamaqundi on Friday. The weather was again very pleasant and we had a really good turn-out: me, Barbara, Kim, Rana, Kate, Rita, Maria, Brenda, and Cathy, and we all settled down to paint along the waterfront near Clyde’s and the Artists’ Gallery. I considered a variety of views but ended up back on the bit of lawn overlooking the cement walking path, where it turns under the trees to follow the lake shore. The movement of the path, the dappled light coming through the trees, and the view of the lake beyond all is very nice, and even though I’d painted that view before, in 2009, I still found it attractive and wanted to try it again. This time, although I was pleased that I’m getting more consistent in avoiding fussy details, I am not 100% thrilled with my painting. I think it’s salvageable, but it will need some work before it gets posted here.

This Thursday was not a regularly scheduled paint-out, but the weather was promised to be so fine – sunny with low humidity and not too warm – that I could not pass it up. I went out about 8am and drove around a bit before deciding that I wanted to paint at the Living Farm Heritage Museum in Howard County. It was lovely: so quiet, with a nice breeze and no bugs. (I guess they were all off somewhere else harassing some other poor artist.) I’ve wanted to paint the Hebb House for a while and decided today was the day. I knew I needed to keep it real simple, though, using the approach that Terri Ford taught me and remembering to eschew detail for broader, bolder strokes of color. I used a smaller surface, therefore (6” x 10”), to help me avoid fiddling. I have to admit I’m quite happy with the painting I did and with the fact that (for once) I met my goals!