"Plein air:" Painting outside

This sounds so idyllic, right? Create a colorful masterpiece while standing at your easel while you listen to the birds.  The weather is perfect, the sun is shining, the vista is pastoral and you are at peace with nature.  

Well.....not the first time.

My friend Susannah and I had our rookie plein air experience yesterday. We experienced nature, for sure. After unsuccessfully walking miles to find a picturesque spot in a county park that was not as promised (more later), driving to the other entrance of the park to find the port-a-potty, and carrying our supplies all along, we decided to make it a picturesque spot near the car. 

We set up in the shade near an old multi-branched tree, a meadow, and a path to the woods. I placed my easel, squeezed out a few colors of paint and started happily. It was amusing when the wind first knocked over my canvas and my easel. I just had to be more careful to hold on to the canvas. Then it happened again. And again. But that was okay because I then knew to brace the easel with one and and paint with the other.  

In no time at all, the shade moved and I was in direct sun. I was already sweaty from trying to find a view worthy of capturing, but my paints dried almost instantly and my healthy conscience, which had insisted I apply sunscreen in the morning, also insisted that at noon it doesn't matter how much sunscreen I put on, I need to get out of the sun.

So I pulled all of my supplies along an old yoga mat to the shade, picked up my easel and tried to carry on. Did I mention the flies? Mayflies, horseflies, deerflies...whatever they were, they bit and they were ravenous. Bug spray was another item I knew I should bring but forgot as I walked out the door.

I was sweating, stomping and waving my arms, holding on to my canvas so it wouldn't blow away, and picking at dried paint with my brush. I had to work fast because the paint dried so quickly, so I decided this was going to be a more abstract kind of day.

In the end, I was not happy enough with either piece to show you or to enter into the Wake County Parks art display. I am not ready to give up, though. Knowing what I know now, I will try again this weekend with more proper supplies and expectations, and a gallon of bugspray.

Two other notes of interest:

1) I knew there would be other artists in the park and I was curious to encounter them. I have been avoiding other artists like the plague due to some seriously unresolved but completely normal imposter syndrome. Would they be competitors? Would they be friendly?

The first artist we encountered knew exactly where to go and staked out the one wilderness outlook in the park, facing a swampy area. We approached from behind, curious to see what the vista provided. An older gentleman with white hair and a beard turned around with a jolly smile and quickly introduced himself. James was excited to experience the fellowship of other plein air artists, and he later partially saved us with a can of bug spray.

We saw one other woman who was clearly an artist, holding up a frame to imagine the composition she would create. We later saw her as she walked by with her finished canvas.  I asked her if she had found a good spot to paint and she shook her head. We commiserated over the lack of inspiration as she walked on, making no attempt to engage or take a sneak peek at our work.

2) I hesitate to speak negatively of any county, state, or federal nature preserve because we need to keep all of the green space we can, and I admire Wake County for their success at doing so. I have a recurring fear that some day the only green space remaining will be golf courses.

Nevertheless, Turnipseed Nature Preserve, south of Wendell, NC, proved to be a difficult place to find the place to paint. I have always found spring to be the least paintable season because the greens are all too fresh and the deepness of the foliage and the sun's position in the sky. So I will give back some points for that. However, I feel somewhat deceived by the photos on the website and the description of the trails. "Lupine Loop" had no blooming lupines, or any flowers at all, just a small meadow with a couple of cones and yellow tape around a portion of the land. "Hidden Boulder" trail must have hidden those big rocks really well, because we saw about three in the entire park. The swamp may have been interesting but with only one outcrop, it was not feasible to explore.

Despite the challenges, Susannah and I enjoyed traveling to a new park and trying something we had never done before. Stay tuned to find out if my follow-up attempt goes any better!