Monday, July 25, 2011

Pioneer Art Fest Paint Out

Old Moline - 12" x 12", Oil

I had a great time painting at the Pioneer Art Festival held at Wheeler Farm this past Saturday. I did both the Early Bird Paint Out and the regular Paint Out and I had a great time. The Early Bird  from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m.was more of a warm up, but I like how it turned out. I'll post that tomorrow. For the main paint out, I scouted a motif earlier in the week and estimated the light for the hours I would be painting. I picked an antique Minneapolis Moline tractor as my subject. As the perennial piece of machinery on any farm, I thought a tractor would be fun to paint. I got set up and my painting was underway by 8:15. It was funny seeing other artists get a little upset that I had a prime spot, but there was no lack of subject matter on the farm. I got a good block in going by about 10:00 a.m. After that I was humming along getting to the good details and thick paint.

About halfway through the painting- 2 hours in

At 12" square, it was the largest painting I have attempted outdoors, but I enjoyed it and gained confidence as I went along. One lady ducked under my view as she walked in front of me and I had to laugh. I was painting pretty fast (for me) but not quite fast enough to paint in a spectator. I got great comments from other artists about how this painting turned out and was feeling pretty good about my chances at a prize. Alas, the cash prize eluded me, but I got a great swirly purple art glass paperweight as an honorable mention prize. My boys promptly dubbed it "Koraeghoth, Maelstrom of Destiny" (whatever that means). I thought it was pretty funny and they were excited that I won a prize even if no money was involved. Considering the competition, I got over my disappointment. There were a lot of artists who have been at this outdoor painting thing a lot longer than I have been. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greg, you just get better every time you pick up a brush!
This is outstanding! Wish I was there!
Good luck with the show!

Curious Art said...

Boy, the first prize winner must have been a doozy! (Or the judge boozy?)

This is a beauty. I love the shapes & patina of old farm equipment & you capture them perfectly.

Reflections said...

Fabulous piece! Sounds like a wonderfully fun time.

Jan said...

What a fantastic painting. You are very talented!

Anonymous said...

lovely! Great light and form - and confidence!

Unknown said...

Thanks Guys! This was totally fun. If you have never painted outdoors before, I would encourage everyone to try it. If you love to paint outdoors, try to do it more often.