Saturday Plein Air - High Banks Metro Park

Another dreary drippy Saturday. Last week, I stopped by High Banks to take some photos and the leaves were vibrant and the goldenrod was bright gold. This week things changed quickly. Today was overcast with a threat of rain. The goldenrod had faded and the leaves were dull.

I love fall. I love the smell of drying leaves, the rustle of leaves, the crunch underfoot. The temperatures were perfect today and I really didn't mind the dampness.

We setup under the picnic shelter where it was even darker. I brought pastels today, so I needed to be under cover to protect those. I may have overcompensated and painted too brightly. My selected view was beyond the middle tree. I ignored it while I painted.

Pastel on Wallis Museum paper, 9 x 12

We gathered for our group critique. Midway as Alan was talking about our paintings, my mind wandered and I looked off to the right into the meadow. Did you see the movie UP! where the dog was so easily distracted by SQUIRREL!!...hahaha.... Well, I did the same thing with yelling TURKEYS!!!. I get excited when I see wild turkeys! We have many in Central Ohio, but they always catch my eye. So, because of my outburst, we had to 

stop and watch the turkeys for a few minutes... They were too far away to get a good photo though.

Here's a Video and you can hear me interrupt the critique -TURKEYS!

http://youtu.be/oQ2vh8BmW2M

Saturday Plein Air - Stratford Ecological Center

Today we painted at the Stratford Ecological Center near Delaware Ohio, during their annual Harvest Fair. Lots of interesting things to paint, although many of them (farm animals) keep moving! So those are best painted from photos.

I decided to paint the droopy sunflowers in the garden. Although I had brought my painting umbrella to shade my painting, the sun was at such an angle, that I quickly got overheated. I know better. I am such a fair haired lass, that I really have to paint in the shade. I got a very good start, but quickly became aware I needed to get in the shade. I will finish this in the studio.

Below are a few process shots:

Saturday Plein Air - Rock Mill

Fantastic painting day! Weather was bright, clear and cool. I even had cold toes and fingers, and had to wear gloves for a couple hours! Ahhh,,,, FALL. We painted near Lithopolis Ohio at the Rock Mill on the head waters of the Hocking River. This is a great grist mill that has been in the process of being restored for several years. Dave Fey, of the Fairfield County Park District has been spearheading the restoration. Dave was very gracious to us today and gave us a wonderful history lesson.

Lisa Schorr and Dave Fey

Dave is letting us have an exhibit and reception inside the mill in October (details to be finalized) of today's paintings, and then he will be arranging for a larger venue for a longer exhibit period in one of the county's public buildings.

Most of the group arrived about 8:30 and we got to work. I think we ended up with about 22 artists today, and this was about a 50 minute drive from home. Everyone said it was definitely worth the drive! 

I decided to walk down in the gorge and paint the view of the wheel, mill, covered bridge and the waterfall! Yes, quite a complex scene. I got a bit lost a few times, working out the rocks, but I think the painting turned out pretty nice. I still want to do a few tweaks before it gets framed and delivered for the exhibit. 

9x12", pastel on Pastelmat paper

It's been a long day and after going through my pictures, I couldn't seem to cull them much, so I will post quite a few here so you can see the whole area.

I had given my paper a wash of gouache at home to make a interesting underpainting.

 Here, I have started to draw in some of the structure with a hard pastel