Painting at Oatlands on a windy day

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Well, conditions were not favorable today for me to continue working on the large painting I started yesterday at Oatlands. Yesterday was completely sunny, and today was overcast. I can only work on this painting on a similarly sunny day. But worse, it was very windy. Having such a large canvas on the easel outside in the wind is a recipe for disaster. I had a bag of rocks that my husband rigged up to hang under the easel so it wouldn't blow over, but even with that, I didn't want to risk it. And the sun wasn't there.

Luckily, I planned for this possibility, and brought a 9" x 12" panel. I set up in the garden where I was slightly more sheltered from the wind and chose a view with a beautiful, lush red bougainvillea potted plant. It was perched on a lovely old stone wall, with the old red brick garden dependency buildings and smokehouse in the background. I really enjoyed focusing on this gorgeous potted plant. When the sun came out from time to time, I was able to get the shadows from the plant on its clay pot. Because of the wind, I wasn't able to use my umbrella, and when the sun was out, it shone directly on my painting. Because of this, my colors may have come out too dark, but overall, I'm happy with today's effort.



Oatlands Garden Bougainvillea, oil on linen panel, 12" x 9"

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