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Bass Lake 8x10 acrylic en plein air

Celebrating Labor Day en Plein Air

What better way to beat the heat and humidity of the piedmont area of NC than to escape with the family to the mountains! I admit I’m a mountain man at heart. My wife, Crystal can stay for days at the beach enjoying the immense vastness and salty air of the ocean…Me, on the other hand, I’m ready to find the hills and curvy roads after about 2 days.

Here’s a few paintings from my Labor Day weekend:

Farm in Boone 8x10 acrylic en plein air
Farm in Boone 8×10 acrylic en plein air

This was a fun little piece to paint. I was privileged to be accompanied by my good friend and artist, Mrs. Mary Page Whitley. We had a fantastic place to paint… we set our easels up under the parking deck of the hospital there in Boone which gave us a nice breeze and plenty of cover from the elements. It even let us get up close and personal with the local wildlife. As I’m standing there painting, I notice out of the corner of my eye, a furry little creature headed straight for me. A groundhog! the little fella just acted like I wasn’t even there…he gave me a brief glance, then just waddled his little way below my tripod!

Plein air portrait of Crystal 10x8 acrylic
Plein air portrait of Crystal 10×8 acrylic

On Sunday afternoon, it was a bit rainy so I didn’t venture out. Instead I opted to paint my wife, Crystal while she was outside reading over some of her home-school material. I told her it would only take about 30 min. An hour and a half later, I was done…oops!

Bass Lake 8x10 acrylic en plein air
Bass Lake 8×10 acrylic en plein air

On Monday afternoon, I headed up to Bass Lake near Blowing Rock, NC. Oh my! what a beautiful place! Everywhere you turn, there are possible paintings! An artist could literally camp out there and paint a different scene every day for months. I’ll be visiting Bass Lake again.

If you’re interested in purchasing a painting or commissioning a portrait, feel free to Contact Me.