Cedarburg Plein Air Painting Competition – Day Nine: Main Event
Well, another long day in the books. Started early today, left around 7:30 am, was painting by 8:10 am. I wanted to get out early to beat the rain. I had maybe an hour of painting time to myself before I got drenched. But I was onto something, and by this time it didn’t even phase me. I had my umbrella over my palette and canvas, and my hood was up with my visor low. Just another day of painting.
Cedar Creek Winery, 8″ x 20″ oil on panel. This is the piece I was working on, which I started yesterday under similar conditions. There’s something about a slightly uncomfortable environment that forces you to make critical decisions. Sort of like meditating under a freezing waterfall. Oddly enough, I couldn’t have been happier than this morning, especially when I wrapped up around 10:30 am.
After packing up I got some food and some tea, took a combat nap in my truck while my tea cooled down, then went to wait in the parking lot of the Cultural Center for the time when we could submit our work. An hour before that, I started labeling and wiring the frames, and prepared the paperwork. I also touched up the other submission which was pretty much waiting to go. Here is the final version, after the touch up, framed. Bentz Family Farm House, 16″ x 20″ oil on panel.
After this, I turned in my pieces. I imagine that organizing volunteers for this is a lot like herding kittens. I was there quite early, so the place was a frantic rush as everyone wanted to turn in their pieces early. Once my stuff was received, I took off, planning to get home and get ready for the memorial service.
I went to the service for Ron Bitticks with my friend Melissa Sandrone. There were a slew of familiar faces there from MIAD, a few I didn’t get to talk to. Leslie Fedorchuk came right up and gave me a big hug. It seems my blog piece on Ron was well received. I did have a chance to speak with David Martin, who gave a beautiful story about Ron, and Jim Matson, who I haven’t seen in many years. I also offered to donate a portrait of Ron to MIAD or the family. I am hoping they contact me with some images, I think I could really capture his personality, and I can think of no greater way to honor my teacher than to immortalize him in paint.
After this Melissa and I left and proceeded to get quite drunk, sharing stories about Ron and our time at MIAD. As I was writing this I then got a phone call from Paddy Shaw, another one of my classmates from MIAD. All I know is that tomorrow I’m sleeping in.
Saturday the event wraps up and we’ll see what kind of a week I’ve had. Fingers crossed.