Wednesday morning, August 16, 2017
A day of camaraderie. The morning begins with a full breakfast sponsored by and located at the Riverview Cafe in downtown Dexter. Then, I join a group of fine artists, including Tamera Ovall, Cornelis vanSpronsen, Janice Dumas, Pam Siegfried, and WanChuan Kesler to a farmhouse north of town.
I was happy with it, for the most part, except for the cloud on the upper left. That’s okay. It was still only around noon and there’s lots of daylight left for more painting.
Wednesday afternoon, August 16, 2017
After a quick lunch, the next stop was a pasture with beautiful Belted Galloway Cattle. I’ve been driving past them quite a few times the days before and was thrilled I had a chance to paint them. At the show on Friday, I saw my feelings were shared by the other artists, because there were quite a few paintings of these distinctively-patterned cattle. Below is the group of the 4 talented artists I painted with.
Hard at work painting are (l to r) WanChuan Kessler, Pam Siegfried, Janice Dumas, and Tamera Ovall.
Here’s the painting I ended up with. I think it’s my personal favorite of all the ones I did in Dexter.
Wednesday evening, August 16, 2017
But two paintings weren’t enough for me. This would be my last day to paint for the Dexter Paint Out, aside from the the Quick Draw. Tomorrow, the weather calls for rain and I have to get my work framed for submissions. If I want to do any more painting, it would have to be today.
I went on my own, this time, back to the abandoned barn I painted on Tuesday morning and scoped it out again. I settled on an apple tree with ripe and semi-ripe fruit throughout its branches, as well as quite a few that had fallen to the ground. By this point, the sun was on its way to begin setting, so I knew I better get my initial shadows in the painting set. Painting the apples themselves with their blends of yellow, tree, and pink was a lot of fun. Here’s my finished painting on my easel.
I felt a thrill that I was able to get 7 paintings done to choose from. Now to narrow my choices and get them framed. I was emotionally exhausted, as well as very hungry. All that would wait for tomorrow. Time to pack up, get a late dinner, and then rest.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
And the Lord smiled upon the Paint Dexter Plein Air Fest. And He granted perfect weather for the week. The sun has shone throughout my painting week, except for rain on Thursday, which was perfect timing. Thursday is the day I committed to staying in my hotel to frame the paintings I’d done the past 3 days.
I signed up to submit the maximum of 3 paintings and I made sure I was prepared with the proper amount of frames I picked up at Frames Unlimited in Troy. At the event, I was reminded that I was also allowed to submit 2 more paintings as reserves. That meant a quick trip to Frames Unlimited in Ann Arbor. Once I was back in the hotel room, I assembled my favorite 5 out of the 7 paintings I had so far. The task was made quite easy thanks to the Logan Frame Fitting Tool I bought at Dick Buick. (I can’t rave about this tool enough.) I pack my car with the paintings still wet, but framed.
I then prepare for the Quick Draw. Since I have to submit that ready to hang, I get the frame assembled with the D-rings with one of them wired. I settled on assembling it as a vertical frame, so I have no choice but to do a vertical painting tomorrow. I put my frame fitting tool with the pack of point inserts. Even though I shouldn’t need it, I pack my drill and tools I used to do the framing throughout the day, just in case. The easel, panel, paints, umbrella, tripod, etc. are all checked and packed, as well.
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