Wildflower Hill, plein aire

Wildflower Hill, 9X12, oil on linen panel

Hi again,
I painted this one on Monday, July 20, 2009. I had participated in a paintout with the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota on the previous Saturday. The location was beautiful and I stood on a hillside covered with wildflowers. Two problems. First, I chose to use a pochade box that was new and when I started setting up, I realized that I hadn't put the quick release mounting plate on the pochade box. So I wasn't able to mount my paintbox onto the tripod. Ugh!! So I spent the day painting with one hand while I held the box on top of the tripod with my other. I would paint till I needed to clean my brush, set the box on the ground, clean my brushes, balance my box onto my tripod and repeat the process. Absolute rookie mistake and one I don't plan on repeating. Second problem was the heavily cloudy day, and the wildflowers on the hills just looked so dreary. When I had finished painting for the day, I decided to return on Monday, if it was sunny, and paint the wildflowers. I'm really glad that I did. It was a beautiful day to paint, and other than a strong wind that threatened to blow my box over (normal stuff for plein air painting), I had a ball. Rapids Lake, which is part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, is located along the Minnesota River. Along with all the wonderful wildflowers and trees, I was treated to small aircraft flying over head performing aerial stunts. Loop the loops, barrel rolls, stalls and other stunts that were nice to watch when I took a break.