Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Hazards of Cityscapes





I painted in Germantown with Anne Blair Brown again this morning and as we painted a gentleman walked up and asked,"Can I take your picture?"
"Sure" we replied and off he ran only to return with this professional grade camera over his shoulder and one of the Channel 4 weathermen in tow."Can we shoot you for the weather segment for tonight?" Dang. Kinda' wish I would have spent a little more time on my "look" this morning. I have to say though, I am usually dressed and prepared for a day in the woods and fields, as I was today, and I have not yet had anyone run up to me in those woods and fields and ask, "can I take your picture?"
Just one more hazard of painting cityscapes.
We also painted this afternoon with Bitsy King and Diane May at the Farmer's Market and if you have never painted there it is a plethora of color and pieces and parts and values and movement. It's overwhelming for someone like me. As most of you know, I will chase a detail like a dog chases squirrels and the Farmers Market is all details. I squinted and squinted and squinted and still got pieces. Baskets of fruit and vegetables and pumpkins and people, flowers and awnings, etc.. And it was all in shade. As easy as pulling your own Wisdom teeth.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Love these two paintings!
I am one of those who chase those details as you described too...among other among other deficits that plague me when painting plein air!
I enjoy your blog and humorous comments.
I will be taking Anne's workshop in September. Looking forward to it!!
Best,
Judy

Anonymous said...

verrry nice work!! I sure get that detail comment! but I struggle with brush control and feel like I just end up with blobs of paint everywhere.
I painted the Hamilton Creek sailboat marina yesterday.. thought about G'town too - but wasn't sure about standing out there solo. that's different than standing out in the country solo!

Anonymous said...

snazzy camera picture too! ya'll are famous! were you on the air??

Kevin Menck said...

Yes, unfortunately we were on the air Wednesday at 5:00. Seeing yourself on TV can be a bit disturbing.

Denise Rose said...

Love these Kevin, especilly the Farmer's Market one. I have a bad feeling Anne is going to have us out in one of these locations next week for her workshop...I much prefer the green trees and barns! I will NEVER get all of those little pieces of fruit painted! But I love your versions very much! What surface are you painting on now?

Kevin Menck said...

The Farmer's Market painting was done on a Sourcetek linen panel because I honestly thought I would screw it up so bad I could just throw it away since I don't use those anymore. But lately I have been using Raymar portrait grade panels and still use the Ampersand Gessoboard which is my preferred surface.

Denise Rose said...

Thanks Kevin. I thought the surface looked a little rougher than what you had been posting. I am currently using different surfaces to see what I like best, but I have found out from reading blogs like yours that sometimes your taste on surfaces changes over time! And don't throw away the Farmer's Market one...it's a keeper!