Thoughts on Painting

Yesterday I spent the day in New Jersey at Jockey Hollow Park plein air painting with the Fantastic, with a capital F, Kenn Backhaus. What an experience it was! He is an amazing teacher and I learned so much. I had to be up at the Highlands Gallery at 8:30 AM, so that meant leaving the house at 7:15 to accomodate my need to stop for a toasted garlic bagel and coffee from Wegman's on the way there. I was lucky enough to get lost on the way there, and drive through some of the most scenic areas of New Jersey! Fall is one of the times of the year when I love getting lost living here on the East Coast. It is the best way to find some good painting spots. So we all met at the gallery, where there was more coffee and delicious pumpkin and apple warm muffins waiting for us. How great does this day sound so far? We had a little meeting with Kenn, he gave us our maps, and we were off to find the Wick House at the State Park. I got lost again (those of you who know me know this is not exaggerated) and got to see more of lovely New Jersey. And then we followed Kenn through a lecture about editing the composition and choosing the best location for your plein air painting. It was a day full of learning and fun and painting, which I will share in another blog post later in the week. 

The picture at the top is my finished piece from the day. We got to paint from 1 to 4, after listening to the lecture. It's not a finished piece, but it's enough information to take home to the studio and create another, bigger piece. Which is what I plan to do today.

Happy painting everyone!