Labarriere Park - No sheep but lovely trees!

This Tuesday was sunny and warm with just a few clouds in the sky. We headed out after my morning piano student. Our initial thought was to go back and see if we could paint the sheep that we had seen on our way to Labarrier Park. The sheep were in yet a different pasture area and too far away for a good viewpoint. Angela suggested we talk to the owner and find out when they were moving the sheep to the front pasture which would be a perfect vantage point. This was an interesting stop as we appeared to have interrupted a "sheep dog" training event. There were several people with dogs waiting their turn to go through the course set up in a paddock. The owner is Faye and she took Angela's phone number and said she would call when the sheep got moved to the front.

We went on to the park and this time we chose to set up right in front of our car on a shady grassy boulevard. The row of trees that interested both of us included a nice variety of trees but what was of most interest was the trees that were dead or dying. They provided a nice contrast of rusty, pinky colors against the primarily green backdrop. I chose to use a very small wide and narrow support today which was perfect for this subject. Following completion of the first painting, I chose to do a quick cloud study on one of my small carton supports. I found the color of the support provided a nice hint through the cloud and also the use of "turpy" washes of white seemed to work well to render the clouds.

When we first set up, a group of several people arrived and spent the lunch hour playing baseball nearby. Just as we finished painting, one of the women dropped by and looked at our paintings. She asked what we charged for them but neither Angela and I had thought about what we might want to charge so Angela gave her one of her cards. I guess we had better think about pricing for these little sketches. People might continue to be interested in buying one of these on the spot!

Our next idea for an outing is to capture a sunset ... hopefully this Thursday evening.

Cloud study

Labarrier Park