Plein air sketch.
Plein air sketch at Millerton Lake, Ca
Yesterday I met with my Tuesday Plein Air Group from the Fresno area. We went to Millerton Lake, California. We were just four of us, but the place was wonderful, filled with water foal, tree birds and an occasional coyote call in the distance, and the weather was delicious. There I did some sketches while two of my friends painted with watercolors and the other used oil paints.
I’ve been meeting with this group since March. Plein air painting is new to me, and I find it a chalenge to paint on a smaller format then what I’m used to. I’m usually paint on formats, such as 26′x48′ . also my paintings usually focus on one subject or element. But the great outdoors gives me so much information, that I need to weed out a lot. Sketches will hopefully do that for me. The plus of going out with this group is the comradery and the inspirations that I bring back to the studio. Every time I go somehow I capture and want to share something of God’s great creation.
I just read an article by Daniel Grant about the dangers of painting outdoors and realise that I should post this little warning.
This year, I’ve had the opportunity to go plein air painting on a weekly basis with the Tuesday Group, a group from the Central California Valley. It has been fun, exiting, and somewhat challenging for a studio painter like myself.
But plein air painting has it’s downsides as well. Unlike the safety of my studio, I understand that I should always be aware of my outdoor surroundings and the possible dangers from animals such as dogs, cattle , cuddly squirrels, pesky jay birds, snakes, bugs in general, and SPIDERS in particular, possible sun burns and heat strokes. The list goes on…
Three weeks ago, while plein air painting, I got bit by a spider. I was not aware of it until the last evening when I though that I had the worst mosquito bite ever. The next day I woke up to my finger throbbing and I discovered a big red pussy pimple over my knuckle. First I thought that it may have been caused by a thorn, and then I suspected that it could be a bug bite. When I researched it on line, it was clear that I had been bitten by a spider. Thank God it was not recluse spider! Time elapsed to 6 days when I Finally decided to see my doctor . The infection was spreading instead of healing. I got scowled for waiting so long, and ended up getting a tetanus shot and strong antibiotic for the next 10 days. That seemed to have done the trick, yesterday was the last of my medication.
I would encourage anyone to not wait as long as I did before seeing a doctor. it’s not worth the risks. In my case the infection could of spread into the bones, since the bite was so close to the knuckle. But go and see your doctor as soon as you can, you will have to anyway, so don’t wait.
