Yesterday, I participated in the Garrison Art Center's Artist On Location event that takes place Fall and Spring as a fund-raiser for the Center. The day was a glorious Fall day in the low 60's, sunny and clear with very little wind. That's particularly helpful when painting along the Hudson because sometimes the wind can whip up and get quite fierce.

By the time I arrived at the Art Center, registered, left off a painting for the Silent Auction, picked up a bag lunch and a bottle of water given to each artist and drove up to the location I had chosen, it was about 10 AM. I had to be back with a finished painting in a frame by 2 PM.

It always takes a while to decide just what part of the scene to paint and then to set up my tripod and easel and ready my supplies.

The scene I chose beckoned to me because of the colors in the foliage on the mountain facing me from across the Hudson. The sun was shining on it and the colors just glowed. In the painting, I eliminated some debris that I was looking at in the foreground and raced to get everything down on a small 9"x12" gessoed panel before the light changed and the scene looked totally different.

By 12:30 some clouds had moved in and the mountain was suddenly in heavy shadow. All trace of the beautiful colors that had been delighting me had vanished. Everything looked dark, blue-green. Luckily, I had just reached the point where I felt I could call the painting finished enough to be able to call it quits.

I ate my lunch, photographed my painting, popped it in a frame that I had brought with me and headed back. There was a big crowd that had shown up for the reception and Live Auction. Paintings were hung as they were brought in and people had time to look them over and to decide on which to bid on. The painting sold a little later that afternoon.