Exhibiting and planning paintings

Today was the day to deliver three paintings that will be on exhibit at the Loudoun Sketch Club's annual show, "Art in the Heart of Loudoun", which this year takes place at the Oatlands Historic Site in Leesburg, VA. I'm going to be doing a plein-air painting demo this Saturday, October 18th, from 11-1, just before the show's reception, which is from 1-3. I used to paint at Oatlands all the time in the early 2000s, and it feels good to be able to paint there again. I walked around the grounds and garden today to choose my spot. I'm pretty sure this is the view I'm going to paint: 

I'm also going to be painting there during the exhibit on 10/19, 10/25, and 10/26 from 1-3. I think it would be interesting to work on the same painting all four days (and maybe beyond.) I'll get it all laid in this Saturday when I paint from 11-1, and on the other three days, the light will be different, because it will be from 1-3. The front on the mansion faces south, so the sun is always hitting that side full on, and it wraps around the house from right to left (east to west) as the day wears on. I like this vertical composition, with the garden balustrade and large flowering shrub and its shadow in the foreground. I have a stretched canvas that's been sitting around that is 31" x 25" (an odd size - it may have been for a museum copy that I never ended up doing.) Working larger outdoors makes it more challenging, and working over several days does, too. If it's overcast, I'll probably work on a different painting, but will return to this one when the sun is out. The conditions will change, but being excited about tackling the problem is what makes it interesting and fun!

These are the three paintings that will be on exhibit at the show, which opens this Saturday, October 18 and runs through Sunday, November 19. 

Early Spring in Virginia, 11 x 14

The Mansion at Oatlands, 12 x 16

Triptych, Great Falls, April 2024, 12 x 34

There is more information about Oatlands, including their address and hours, on their website, https://oatlands.org/.

I am also gathering objects and thinking about the setup for my "M" painting, a still life where all of the objects start with the letter M. I'm starting to put things on my table and move them around. I think I'd like to have a Map of Maine, but I don't really like this book map I have. I'm going to look online for a more colorful map. I grabbed some books of M artists to pile up.  There's Monopoly Money, loaned by a generous neighbor, since I finally got rid of my childhood Monopoly set only last year. I have this Mask of Zeus (?) that my dad bought on a trip to Greece, I think. I'll try to incorporate the Mirror and Magnifying Glass. I have a couple of pots of Moss which aren't on the table yet because I want to leave them in their window to receive light as long as possible. (I'm getting a grow light to paint them by, so hopefully they won't languish.) And I think I'll get a Muffin and maybe a Mango. 

Just to show you my process, here's a picture of what I've got so far. 

It will change vastly as I put more objects in and take some away. I need a vertical element, so I'll probably put the Map of Maine on the wall. Oh, I also have Mallomars, which was a favorite treat when I was a kid (we called them Mushcakes for some reason!) This whole process is lighthearted and fun, and I'll show what happens as I go along. I may end up not using a lot of these objects, we'll see!

Thanks for reading! See you soon!

Click the photos for a larger view