Friday, June 26, 2009

"Burning Gas & Hauling Ass" -- plein air field study -- oil on canvas panel -- 11x14" -- Margie Guyot

I'd driven past this truck 3 times this week and just HAD to go paint it today. It's parked along the side of 31, in Elk Rapids. It's for sale. And '86 Chevy. While I painted, several people stopped to talk. I always fantasize about some wealthy gallery owner stopping, falling to their knees, tears in their eyes, speechless with the joy of seeing my painting. Ha ha!

It's been very dry here for 2 weeks.
Lawns have turned to shredded wheat. But the yellow sedum, a succulent wildflower, flourishes. It loves neglect and drought. I thought the sight of this yellow truck, sitting on a hillside with yellow sedum was too cool to pass up.

Probably the hardest thing about painting a vehicle en plein air is making oneself calm down and look
carefully. Are the lines parallel that need to be parallel? And those doggone tires! Obelisks are tough boogers to draw! It's one thing to paint a tree and quite something else to paint a car. You can fudge quite a bit with a tree and people will still see it as a tree. Cars (and faces) are far less forgiving.

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