6:52 PM: yesterday i got the urge to go to the creek and paint plein air, which i haven’t done in months. you could tell i was out of practice, from trying unsuccessfully to stabilize the collapsible tableto finding a place for my 3 legged stool (i ended up sitting on a log) to trying to put my brushes somewhere where they wouldn’t tumble onto the ground or worse yet into the creek! if you could have seen me, you would have laughed. or tried to help me.

i was so rattled, when i started painting on what i thought was a piece of paper taped to the foam core, i didn’t realize until i was about to leave that i had it flipped the wrong way, and was actually painting on the foam core itself! an interesting experience. that gouache painting won’t last too long, since the foam core is not acid free, as is the paper i use.

i don’t think these are particularly interesting paintings, but it got me back into the plein air mode. if i go back soon, i’ll leave earlier, because it was impossible to get out of the sun, which was straight overhead.

plus, i forgot some basic colors, like green and brown.

the western sky yesterday evening from our deck

yesterday late afternoon we had 2 friends for a deck dinner. it had been a record breaking hot day, so it was refreshing to sit out in the breeze. as dark clouds gathered in the east, the wind picked up and, after finishing our desert, a fantastic chocolate cake they had baked, it began raining & we moved indoors. with the haze from the smoke wafting into the valley from the huge grizzly fire burning out of control near glenwood springs,

just 20 minutes from carbondale, where marc and i are scheduled to give our talk on friday afternoon.

plein air at the creek /August 16, 2020 by Philip Tarlow