Plein Air Paint Out in Bellingham


Today was the Plein Air Paint Out in Bellingham. This was organized by Trish Harding of Studio UFO, the Blue Horse Gallery and the City of Bellingham. It was lots of fun.

The top painting is mine, and you can see the building I'm painting. When I heard about the Plein Air event I knew instantly that I would paint this building. There's a story, of course. Twenty years ago my husband and I moved back to Bellingham so that he could pursue a Masters of Science in Geology. I worked at the local building supply store for 2 1/2 years, selling kitchen cabinets, to support the family. When it was quiet in the showroom I'd gaze out the back window and look at the brick building and the windows with geraniums on the sills. I was fresh out of art school and thought often of painting the window. Finally did that.

The bottom painting is of Cindy and Charles, my plein air painting neighbors. They were great and were both painting the most interesting old building on C street. Cindy's is watercolor, Charles' is oil. By the way, Charles has the best gorp. M&M's and salted cashews. None of that healthy filler that gets in the way of the tasty M&M's.

I was painting near a yellow jacket nest, as I quickly learned when one stung my hand, but a wonderful man in a truck stopped, saw me dancing around, and left me with a gift: a can of Repel. What a lifesaver. In all, a fascinating day of painting my brick building, and chatting about art with passersby and the homeless people and kids who frequent Maritime Heritage Park.

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