Evening Light

This week, I registered for the Grand Marais Plein Air Festival to be held in September 2017.  Right now, it seems like a big adventure. It will be my first time of participating in a plein air competition, and in spite of having to admit that I have a bit of anxiety, I’m beginning to look forward to the experience. Hosted by the Grand Marais Art Colony, the 9-day event promises exciting painting challenges along with wonderful opportunities to meet other artists and learn new techniques.

In plein air, the focus is on being portable – moving from studio to outdoors, determining the composition, and painting quickly to capture the light. Sounds easy – right?! Ha! I’ve discovered that it’s extremely difficult to narrow one’s focus and to effectively “crop out” a well-balanced composition from a spectacular, panoramic view. The positive is that accepting the challenge and navigating the logistics can bring your art to a whole new level!

To help prepare for this event, I thought it would be good to explore the light and paint a few scenes from the beautiful North Shore area. Today’s painting is titled, Evening Light, 8” x 10” on 300 lb. watercolor paper, and features the picturesque waterfront in the heart of downtown Grand Marais.