Just got back from my 3rd plein air event this summer. This one was in Castine, Maine....WAY up north...a 10-12 hour drive for me depending on traffic. Two and a half days to do up to 6 paintings. My goal was to do 6 and I did accomplish that! I always start one of the events by cruising around and taking lots of pictures. I pour over these in the evening and come up with a plan on where to start and which subjects I definitely want to paint.

So...day one painting looked like this...

It was surprisingly hot and humid  in Maine. My original tactic was to paint from 7am to 2-3 and then enjoy exploring and hanging out. The heat changed my plans since it was miserable to paint between 11:30 and 2 or so. I ended up taking a break during that time...lunch and a quick nap .... and then going out to paint in late afternoon/early evening.

Day 2 was only 2 paintings.... and looked like this....

I spent the evening of Day 2 framing up what I had done so the next days delivery of paintings to sale would go smoothly.

Before I knew it 2 days were gone. I planned to do my 6th and last painting on Saturday morning when it was cool. Not sure exactly what I was going to paint but knew I'd figure it out. Sometime in the night it came to me...Paint People. Castine is not a working fishing village so early in the morning people are not out and about but I did find my victim...Another painter!

Thanks to Diane Dubreuil from Milford, CT for being such a wonderful and willing subject!

Now it was time to frame this one and deliver my paintings to the sale venue.  This event sale is only 2 hours. Shortest plein air sale I think I've ever been to! Many folks came out and many had wonderful comments. Unfortunately, I had no sales.

This is the brutal side of the art biz. You plan your trip, what paints you'll need, what size canvas/panels, which frames to bring. You bring your framing supplies, paint clothes, regular clothes. You bring snacks and food because eating out every meal is not good for your waist or your wallet. You get to this town where you know no one...maybe a couple of the artists ...then you work hard to do good work.... you hope it's good. You think it's good or you wouldn't show it BUT there are NO guarantees. And you never know why the artist 2 tables over sold 3 paintings and you didn't even sell 1!

The cold hard truth is more paintings DON'T sell than do. Approx 180 paintings were created in Castine and about 50 sold. Odds are against you, but you know that and you just keep on painting!
Off to Floyd Virginia in 2 weeks to do it ALL AGAIN!  WooHoo!

All paintings shown here are for sale on website home page...unless already sold.

The plein air season is warming up and Paint Snow Hill 2017 was a great kick-off! The people there and the variety of subject matter makes this event an ideal way to get those juices flowing. Clear out those dust, winter cobwebs and PAINT!

This was my 3rd year at Paint Snow Hill.  Just what is that???  70 artists come to paint the town and surrounding area for 2-3 days. There is a sale on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon of the work created in that time frame. 25% of sales support a local arts organization.

Day 1 was a challenge. I arrived on Wednesday at noon, stopped by my host housing to say hello and unload the car. Then I headed straight out for painting #1.  By the time I found a spot the wind had really kicked up and it got quite cloudy...ugh.  The 1st painting was a struggle. The light kept changing, the paint was sticky, the wind was relentless, I was cold and the painting itself seemed lifeless, rather clunky....is this fun?  I struggled for a while...then threw in the towel for the day and hoped for a better tomorrow.

Day 2 did bring a sunny morning and a fresh start. I went to the same location I had been since I'd seen a few possibilities there.  I took a deep breath and began....

I took my time and the painting went well. I was happy with how this one turned out so I decided to pop back over to yesterdays location and re-work painting #1 a bit. The sunlight helped tremendously. I brightened up the sky, worked on the green building and popped lights and darks a bit. Surprising how it just came together with just a few tweaks.

I did one other painting from scratch and re-worked a painting from a previous year in the afternoon. The whole thing just needed going over and refining. The colors are more varied and there is more definition , I think. Be happy to hear your thoughts....

Day 3 I woke with a mission. I wanted to try painting a mini mart in town. This place had been calling to me.... so off I went. I took the time to do a sketch.....often a good idea! This was one of those times when everything worked. Sunny out, perfect temperature, good sketch, painting felt comfortable, color and shapes fell into place nicely. I had a blast! This is when the frustration of the previous days pays off and you feel like you might just be..... (shush) ..... an artist!

At this point I realized I needed to work a bit smaller if all my paintings were going to fit onto the 3' x 6' panel we're given for the sale. I decided to have some fun with some 6x6 studies.....

Now it's Saturday and I must frame my larger paintings and re-paint the edges of the square paintings, make sure everything is signed, labeled and wired to hang....then go hang the work and be ready for preview sale that evening! Ah, the life of a plein air artist!

What I learned ...well, re-learned... this week was to take my time and be patient with myself. it's so important to take a step back and breathe. Not every painting is going to go well and that has to be ok. That's how we get better at this thing called ART.

This summer has been a bit crazy and disjointed for me but there is nothing like a plein air event to help me focus and get back on track.
I just returned from a 5 day trip to Ocean City, Maryland for Artists Paint OC 2015. This was my first time at this event so I went down 1 day early to get my bearings and scout out some places to paint. My housing host was so very gracious and gave me a personal tour when I arrived. That really helped me a ton!
This was a real challenge for me since my inclination is to paint urban, gritty scenes. Although Ocean City is congested it is NOT gritty! Many artists enjoy painting sand dunes, grasses and birds but that is not my “thing” so I found myself really searching and even struggling a bit to find subjects that inspired me. I think in the end I did a decent job of representing Ocean City in Sarah Baptist style. Lets see what you think…..
Day 1.  It often takes me a while to feel comfortable in a new place so with a gray sky and forecast of rain my first 2 paintings felt a bit stiff. I think the different surroundings got the better of me. ​

As a side note.... nothing sold at the event sale but I did get some interested buyers AFTER. Thanks to those who inquired and bought these pieces. 4/2017  Sarah