Painting on location can be very challenging. For me, the biggest challenge is that I prefer to sit while I paint, and in a perfect world, I would bring a large table, a comfortable chair, and a cooler with cool beverages. Of course, I need to keep it simple and light for carrying; so instead, I bring a fold up chair, hold my painting on my lap, and bend over to the ground to get paint from my palette. I did something different this time, though, and it really helped. I did a wet wash ahead of time, and let it dry before painting on location with it. I also found that if I took a photo of the scene, and then drew from the camera image, that I could draw the scene lots more successfully! Thank you, modern technology! I did this painting while on a wonderful painting trip with 6 other artists. There were palm trees everywhere, so I decided to do my abstract version of them. I'll always remember the perfect sunny day, the sounds of kids on kayaks nearby, and the peace that I felt painting this scene. A great big "thank you" to Jim Turner, my friend who owns a house on Puerto Rico, and graciously invites me to come paint with many other artists there. This was our second time there, and we had a wonderful time, escaping the Minnesota winter for a week.
