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.
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| 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!
