Paint Out!

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Here is one image painted during our annual Paint Out with Sharon Arts Association. It's always lots of fun, and good to stand shoulder to shoulder with other artists.

This year's paint out locations centered around the historic and lovely mill village of Harrisville, NH.

I had my dog Tucker with me as usual (that's a long story for another day,but suffice it to say that Tucker has to come with me everywhere I go). This limited me to public areas, even though some of the local residents had opened their properties for artists to come paint. But I found a nice shady spot during this hot weather week, and sat on the ground near the pond with ol' Tuck and painted the church. I got most of this done in one sitting, but when I brought it home, I just felt it needed something. Harrisville has been painted quite a bit, because it is so picturesque, and I decided that what this painting needed was a spark of life. So, I added the people, making it more about the church as a place for folks to gather and worship, than about another lovely historic building.

Here is one more painting done on location during the week. This was a great afternoon view of Mt. Monadnock in the distance. I am partial to the norther view of the mountain, showing both the Pumpelly Ridge (that hump that starts on the left) and the concave shape of the summit hump. That concavity almost makes it seem that Monadnock had volcanic origins. I might have to check up on that.

This was a great spot for afternoon light. I knew the shadows were lengthening, and heading toward my painting spot, but by the time they reached me, I was sunburned and very hot and dry in the heat of the day. This field was recently cut, but not quite as dramatically mown as I have depicted it. Again, this is an example of how an artist arranges and chooses elements to make a good painting, not just trying to copy what is there. I felt the painting needed those directional lines for added interest and rhythm. This painting sold at our reception at the end of the week (during which, I might add, a violent thunderstorm struck, and a bolt of lightening landed uncomfortably near our building!)