Saturday Plein Air - Creekside Park

We painted in Gahanna today at Creekside Park. Generally, this is a nice quiet family creekside park, but this morning there were women running in tutus! There was some kind of 5k fundraiser. Some of us had trouble finding parking, but that event didn't last too long and it was back to a nice quiet place - other than the ducks and geese quacking and the waterfall flowing. (read father below about the swan!) This is also one of those scenic parks where the photographers show up with their gear to photograph the babies, graduates or newly engaged couples.All three varieties were there today! We had about 15 painters today.

babies in boxes on bridges!

I decided to try my hand at the man-made waterfall. I liked how the morning sun was peeking through the trees. I worked on Arches Oil Paper today, toned with burnt sienna. I have mixed reviews of this paper. The pros are that you can cut the paper to any shape, then frame the finished piece many different ways (mounted to board, varnished and framed like any other oil, or matted and framed under glass). The cons are that I feel like I need to get a good cover of paint before I get the brush strokes right, because the paper is very thirsty and dry feeling.

I am very pleased how this turned out. I kept things loose and like the effect of the waterfall.
Here are some other shots of the area:

 We seem to paint in many places where there are swans. Beautiful birds. This guy was out to show his dominance and was busy running off the geese!