Williamsburg Plein Air Art Show 2017

Today I got to spend a relaxing day in Colonial Williamsburg.

The Williamsburg Celebrates Contemporary Art Show was this weekend along with the Plein Air Event sponsored by Williamsburg Housing Partnerships.  I had done the show once before about 2 years ago and it poured rain that day.  It was so rainy and humid that the acrylic paint on my canvas was taking a long time to dry.  That had never happened to me before.

After skipping last year, I thought I would do the show again but decided to use watercolors.  I have been playing around with watercolors a lot the past year especially when I am out "urban sketching". I bought some Derwent Inktense pencils and blended them with water and liked the effect.  It is fun to change up doing things every now and again and I am finding I am more satisfied artistically speaking if I allow myself to do multiple mediums.

I walked around Colonial Williamsburg the day before the event trying desperately to find inspiration for something to paint the next day.  Nothing really stood out for me although I did have some good ideas of places that I could go.

I got a horrible night's sleep the night before and as soon as I knew it my iPhone was sounding an early 6:15am alarm to wake me up.  Got ready, made coffee and I was off!

I am so used to seeing so many people around Colonial Williamsburg that it was odd seeing so few people there on a early Saturday morning.  I checked in at the tent and proceeded by pulling my red wagon full of stuff to the Governor's Palace.

I really thought that I would paint the Governor's Palace today.  I got there and I just wasn't feeling it. I took one look at all the windows of the palace and let out a sigh.  I have been working on a painting of the Nelson House in Yorktown and I was feeling a little burnt out from painting/drawing windows.

I spent the next hour walking around CW(Colonial Williamsburg) trying to find somewhere that I would be happy painting.  I finally decided to go behind the houses and paint in one of the backyards of the houses.  The Raleigh Tavern was to my right and I could hear the staff working.

As soon as I started I realized that I didn't bring an eraser.

I soon found myself tearing through all my supplies and found a small pencil with a usable eraser in the bottom of my purse.

Finished most of the "hard stuff" at this point.

Problem 2 arose when I let the sun shine on my Inktense pencils.  My yellow was pretty much too soft to sharpen anymore.

The sun soon moved and I had to keep positioning myself out of the sun less I get sunstroke.  The artist life is hard!

I painted from 8am-1pm.  Checked social media for about 15 minutes.  I was posting work in progress reports and enjoyed reading the comments.

I handed in my art work and learned that I was the first one in.  Immediately walked in the William & Mary bookstore to cool off.

I didn't win a prize but better yet I sold the painting!

An employee from the Housing Partnership bought it for her office.  What a compliment!  It totally made my day.

Thanks for reading about my day!