Dandelions can be beautiful!

We decided to go back to Labarrier Park today ... I was driving and because I was on automatic pilot, I started out the wrong direction so we went on a long roundabout drive to get there. The road was still closed so we had to go out hwy 59 and right on 247 again to get there. We both had our rubber boots on as we expected the grass to be quite wet given all the rain we had recently.

When we arrived, we first headed down towards this gulley which looked appealing with trees still submerged up to their ankles with some lovely reflections on the water. We kept walking and this beautiful scene opened up in front of us. At the park the bank is long and sweeping down towards the river. The undulating curves of this grassy area was covered in a blanket of bright yellow dandelions. Normally, we are never happy to see so many dandelions in the city but out here on this hill, they were spectacular. We both agreed that this is the scene we wanted to paint.

On our way back to the car to get our gear, we noticed a helicopter that kept crisscrossing over the area. Angela suggested that it might be spraying and she was right; all of sudden we got a whiff of some very chemically smelling spray. I expected to always experience some minor hazards with plein-air painting but did not expect to get "gassed". It was also a reminder that this might also be the first time we have to deal with mosquitoes. We got our gear and headed down to our waiting scene.

I again vowed I was going to take more time so I started with an ink and water sketch. The full scene would have required a very wide and narrow landscape format which neither of us had. I made the decision to not crowd the scene into something smaller but choose a more narrow view. What was of most interest was the curves and shapes of the small sloping hills and of course the color; brilliant yellow dandelions against the many greens of the grass. The myriad of greens to mix was the most challenging to me plus the waiting to put the dandelions in.  This was another good painting day ... it's hard to put into words how great it feels to be out where all you hear are the birds singing and the squirrels chattering at us.

A carpet of dandelions - our subject

Setting up and getting ready to paint

Today`s finished painting