Solomons paint out - Day Three

7:30 am


You will never believe what happened last night. First the sun was in the sky above me to the west. And then it went down below the horizon resulting in some spectacular colors. You might even say that it "set."

I have been up since 6am working to finish the painting I started yesterday. My poison ivy infested fingers have swelled up like little sausages. They are tight and do not want to cooperate this morning.

Today is full of "events" which means little time for completing what I have already begun. On the agenda is the free breakfast for artists at the Naughty Gull from 9am to 10am, a quick draw competition at the Marine Museum from 10am to noon, and then all artwork must be framed and delivered to Annmarie Garden in the 4pm to 5pm window. My plan is to paint until I need to leave for breakfast, go play quick draw, and then return home to finish that painting I started out on the point on Thursday. Then frame, frame, frame, deliver, and...break for dinner. Whew!

2:00 pm
Robb and I had a nice, but slow, breakfast with our new friend Nancy Shippen, who also recently relocated to Southern Maryland. She is a conservator at Jefferson Patterson and got to work on restoring some of the Jamestown artifacts damaged in Hurricane Isobel.



And when we got to the museum, Robb was eaten by the Megalodon skeleton. Luckily, he was able to slip out between its ribs.



I picked a spot to paint that was right near the otter enclosure.



And I painted, very quickly, since we got there at about 10:30. When I was about half finished, a little boy walked up and was like, "What are you doing?" "Painting a picture." "What is it?" "An otter." Confusion. "Just kidding, see that shed over there with the red roof." He looked at the shed. "It doesn't look like that at all," he told me. His mother was mortified, but I just laughed. "Well, I'm not done yet..."



A bell rang at noon to tell us that our time was up. I put away my paints even though I was still not happy with my painting. We all hauled our paintings over to the pavilion for judging.



Here is Judge Bill Schmidt with David Diaz (of duckling photo fame) who won the 2nd place ribbon for quick draw. Nice job, David! Below Bill Schmidt explained why he awarded 1st prize to that painting.



Okay, I have a lot to do before 5pm.

6:30 pm


In case you were wondering when I was going to pitch you a curveball: here it comes. Around 4:15pm I took a painting break to ponder the following items.

1. Any paintings I want to hang in the show need to start the framing process right now.

2. The only painting that is complete--the retro lighthouse--is smaller than any of the mats or frames I have on hand. I do not have time, or the desire, to drive to a store where I might purchase the supplies I need to frame that painting.



3. The other paintings from this event are not yet satisfactory. I am not willing to frame and show unfinished work.

4. After the quick draw competition Judge Bill Schmidt explained his process for picking the top three paintings there and for each of the four honorable mention pieces. None of my work is within his personal aesthetic--not even ballpark--so I do not need to worry about how I will spend my prize money from tomorrow's show and sale.

5. On several different occasions I overheard more seasoned plein air painters worrying out loud that the advertising for tomorrow's show had been minimal. The man-on-the-street they spoke to had not heard anything about an art show.

6. I would like to see all of the paintings that participating artists created during the festival, but I would like to see and spend time with Sukey more. If I do not attend tomorrow's show, we will get to Mom's house earlier in the morning.

7. Because we are traveling tomorrow I would not be able to pick up any paintings on time at 5pm after the show. I would have to make special arrangements to pick them up on Monday morning instead.

See where I'm going with this?



Here, have another otter.