"Provo River"
Utah
8 x 10
Palette Knife
Dean and I had been trout fishing all week, and I was wanting to paint more than fish this evening. So, we combined them to make us both happy.
When we got to the place where Dean wanted to fish, I couldn't believe what I saw! An elevated, rectangular, level rock, perfect to set up my easel and paint from. It was up out of the brush and I had a great view of the river!
I had purposely worn my wading boots, even though I didn't plan on fishing, because I figured I would be standing around painting in knee high snakey brush, and the wader boots felt like they offered me more protection. What an awesome surprise this rock turned out to be!
Dean got to work fishing, I got to work painting. It was not buggy, it was not snakey. It was not cold, it was not hot, it was not windy, or stinky or crowded (no one was there but us the entire time). It was absolutely perfect!
The sun would come out once in a while and the river and shrubs would just glow. But the lighting was tricky and then it would be gone. A similar thing was happening with Dean and his fishing. He would catch a big beautiful trout, but using barbless flies, the fish would usually figure a way off the hook just as Dean was about to net it....and then it would be gone.
We did have a blast though. This was a subject that (again) I had never plein aired before and it went quickly and smoothly. I finished up just as the sun went behind the mountain and the temperature began to plummet......fast.
This will be a hard plein air day to top!