Effie Yeaw Nature Area

June 9 - On a beautiful Saturday morning, I decided to go to Effie Yeaw Nature Area for a paint-out where artists were suppose to paint and then display their works for a nominal fee on the patio of the museum.  The museum was planning a fund raiser later that afternoon. I wasn't too sure about displaying my art, but I figured I would go and check out what other artists were doing, take a look around, and do a little painting myself, if I was so inspired.  It had been a while since I had been to Ancil Hoffman Park and Effie Yeaw Nature Area, so I took a stroll around. I was amazed at how much wildlife there was: deer, turkeys, egrets. 

Once I had walked around the nature area, I went to find a nice quiet spot (which is pretty easy since the whole place is quiet!) I set up alongside the path next to a large meadow with my chair (a permanent addition to my plein aire supplies) and my watercolors. My goal in this painting was to focus on not a lot of detail in the background trees, while incorporating as much detail as I could in the tree in the foreground.  I reworked the trunk of the tree several times to get a sense of the texture in the bark. After I was finished, I wished that the oak tree was not so “cut off” but more in the painting.

An additional side note: I had seen so much wildlife in the morning that I thought I should incorporate something into the painting. I decided to put a small deer under the background tree on the left. I did not like the way it was turning out so it quickly became a shadow under the tree instead.

Here's one of the creations of another artist that was at the paint-out.  I really liked the way this watercolor looks.  It actually has the effects that I was working on with the background trees and foreground trees, but I  like the way the bridge turned out!  I took a picture of it on the easel while being displayed for the fundraiser.