Every Day in May, III

I'm still plugging away at my daily "every day in May" sketches, though I keep asking myself if it is worth the time. I feel comfortable working on pieces like the Mardi Gras sun from  yesterday.  I took the picture, and I know how to graph it out and work in up as watercolor or colored pencil, and I know I'll get results I like.  

This drawing on the fly, on location, is less predictable, more risky.  But I want to get comfortable drawing or painting in public, and I want to train my eye better, so this is how I'm choosing to do that. Drawing in the coffee shop showed me two things.  First, I need give myself enough time to complete what I start.  Second, if I'm just using a pen and notebook, nobody pays any attention to me.  That is a relief.  I suspect, however, that if I had my little watercolor kit it would attract notice.  Drawing outside showed me that I am going to have to pay attention to things like insects.  I was in the shade, so no problem there, but mosquitoes and little gnats left my neck and arms itching.

All this is leading up to a challenge I set for myself for next month.  I just sent in my entry fee for a plein air painting event to be held in Beloit in June.  A painter friend twisted my arm (a little) and said we could work together.  There are some prizes, and according to her a fairly limited field of entrants.  There are cash prizes, and a sale of completed paintings.  I've never done anything like this before, and I am nervous.  But I'm also determined to try.  So these informal sketches are a start in a new direction.  If I bomb, I bomb.  But I'll never know unless I try.  If you want to read about the event, check it out here:

http://www.friendsofriverfront.com/plein_air.htm