Plein Air in Bellport - Part 1

 On Sunday the South Bay Art Association held its first Bellport Plein Air by the Bay, a paintout open to all artists. Unfortunately the day was dreary and damp, with light mist and showers. There was no rain date. 

I found a fairly covered sheltered area that had a view of some of the boats docked in the marina. I sketched out the scene and then went to do a wash of grey color for the sky...the paper absorbed every bit of the water and would not dry! If I tried adding any additional color to the paper it bled and faded. The humidity really made it super difficult to get anything to look like anything other than a faded grey. I waited and waited but the drying time was really slow. I decided to try and do the pencil lines over in ink and that worked a little better, allowing me to isolate some of the colors on the boats. I worked on this for about 2 hours before deciding that I would have to do stronger colors at home once the paper dried. So this is not officially a complete plein air painting. I punched up the color and added the reflections in the water. Since the weather was so difficult for painting all the artists were told that they could work on their paintings more at home from their photos so I am not the only one who has added to the work they did on location.

The completed artwork is going to be on display and up for sale next Saturday at Bellport Day, a big celebration in town. There will be prizes for 1st place, 2nd, 3rd and best in show.

I haven't decided on a title yet...maybe "Bellport Grey." This painting is 8 x 10.