Look For Me At Women Painting Women 2015 RJD Gallery

Yesterday was one of those laid back Sundays where you leave the World Wide Web to fend for itself, and enjoy the day....unplugged. I finally got around to going to the Vintage Faire Market which is held on the last Sunday of the month. It's only a few miles from my house, but I always forget to pay attention to which Sunday is the last Sunday.  I found some stuff to include in upcoming paintings, so, well worth going.

In the afternoon I put together another miniature garden. I'm obsessed with miniature gardens.

Then, late in the afternoon I had some down time and decided to pick up my phone and see what was happening on Facebook. A short scroll down and I saw my friend Shana Levenson announced one of her works had been accepted to the Women Painting Women 2015 exhibition at RJD Gallery. I submitted to that exhibition. I had not checked my e-mail all day.

Whenever you need to open an e-mail right away it takes FOREVER, but I saw the subject line....."Congratulations". Now, I would like to say that I handled the news with restrain and dignity. But I did not. I let out a loud squeal. I may or may not have ran through the house screaming "YES!".  My painting "The Fall" has been accepted.

The Fall

The exhibition opens October 10th. For now the only info on the gallery's site is the call for entries here. I will be updating the blog as soon as I get more information. 

For now, if you will excuse me, I have a flight to schedule!

Plein Air Painting Without Excuses

"I don't have time for that"

"I can't afford the fancy equiptment"

"I don't want to deal with -sun-wind-rain-bugs-heat-cold-"

"What if people see my painting and it is not very good"

Yeah, excuses are easy. But the lure of plein air painting wins in the end.

Plein Air (outdoor on location) painting is something I have wanted to try for years now. My two biggest excuses were "no time" and "I hate bugs". When I started planning my trip to northern Wisconsin I realized the "no time" excuse would be null and void. I also realized I was going to have to suck it up and get over the fact that numerous insects were going to compete for a place to bite me as soon as I sat down to paint (a good spray of repellent made the experience much better).

Although I have a nice full size plein air easel, it is bulky and cumbersome. I ended up building a small pochade box from a cigar box. (I did not follow the tutorial that I link to, but used several tutorials off the internet to create one that fit my needs. Because I had the materials to build the box lying around the house, my box cost me nothing). My pochade box attached to a standard camera tripod, and when paired with a comfortable camp chair, I was in business!

Plein Air Painting in Wisconsin

It's not hard to find something beautiful to paint when you are on a lake. My cabin overlooks a small bay with towering aspen trees and ancient looking white pine. I completed the 4x6 painting in about an hour.

Putting On Finishing Touches

I wanted to keep this one. It's small, simple, and, like all plein air paintings, captures what I felt more than what I saw.  

The Finished Painting

But, my husband and I meet the nicest couple while we were up there. Jim once worked on our cabin many years ago, and Sue has spent many fond hours on the lake. After telling them how we were filling the cabin with antiques, they stopped by with a vintage lantern as a gift. I wanted to give them something in return. As they are in the process of selling everything so they can travel the U.S. in their camper, I gave them the little landscape so they can have a reminder of the lake where ever they go.

(I wonder if they ever stopped fighting over where they were going to put the painting. I bet Jim won. I'ts hanging over the sliding glass doors isn't it?)