En Plein Air

Painting class was so much fun. I told Sunnie that it will be one of the highlights of this summer for me.

Six of us gathered at Sunnie’s studio around 8:30 yesterday morning. We couldn’t have had a more beautiful day. Sunnie lives a few miles up the road from me, on a piece of property above and behind the homestead foundation’s community center. She’s on a bench with a lovely view out over the Flathead Valley.

Here are Susan and Gini getting settled:

Sunnie gathered us together, had us introduce ourselves, and gave us some basic instructions. Another friend of ours, Lindalee—who is also an artist—was helping as Sunnie’s assistant. Each of us chose a view that we wanted to paint. There is no shortage of scenery at Sunnie’s house. I chose to paint the view looking northwest over the valley into Whitefish, with Lion Mountain in the background.

We worked for about an hour. Sunnie asked us to get up and stretch, and then we went to each student’s easel for a discussion. That was so helpful. Sunnie is an excellent teacher. She praised what each student was doing correctly, then gently offered constructive suggestions for improvement. Creating a supportive environment for learning went a long way toward easing anxiety for those of us who were way out of our comfort zones.

It took me a bit of time to get comfortable with what I was doing, not that I every got truly comfortable. Analysis paralysis and I are good friends, LOL. I did relax enough to flow with it and enjoy the process, though. I have a reasonably solid understanding of color theory, and mixing paints was a lot of fun. I was a bit fuzzy on technique, but that came with doing.

Here we are discussing Gini’s painting:

By the time noon rolled around, I was done and happy with my effort. We took a break for lunch. Some students had to leave. Susan, Robin, and I stayed—Susan was finishing her painting, and Sunnie wanted to help Robin and me finish and sign ours. And once my painting was signed, I found myself in Sunnie’s basement looking for a frame. Collecting frames is why Sunnie loves to scour thrift stores.

I am not in danger of taking up oil painting as another hobby, but I was pleased enough with my painting to hang it up here at home:

Sunnie also gifted me with two beautiful pieces of rayon woven fabric that she found while looking for frames at one of the local thrift stores. This is the red one:

This is a spectacular blue and green one—totally my colors:

And she got them for half price off on Senior Day!

I need to get my nose back to the grindstone today. I have a bunch of paperwork and other tasks that need to be tackled this morning. I don’t think I will make it to sewing but we’ll see. I’d like to get one more batch of zucchini bread into the freezer, too.