PGSB Part I

I am once again participating in Paint the Great South Bay (PSGB), a week long plein air event held locally. I believe I have taken part in three of them.  From this past Saturday to this coming Saturday we can paint anywhere in the designated area. Included in the organized events (which are optional) are nocturnal painting nights, a visit to the beach in the evening, a quick-draw event, and painting from a rooftop building. Artists must have their papers/canvases stamped before they can paint. This year they did a competition for the design of the PGSB rubber stamp and mine was selected. I won free admission to the event as well as a free renewal to the Patchogue Arts Council for the year.

Here is the stamp I designed printed on the flier for the event.

On Saturday I headed over to the Sayville Farmers Market. I wasn't sure what the weather would be like since it was spritzing on and off, so I parked my car where I would have a good view of a booth and then wedged my beach umbrella between the door and the seats of the car. It offered a little protection just in case. Of course people came along and checked out what I was doing, even the man who organizes the market. He asked me to send him a copy of the finished painting so that he could post it on the Sayville Farmers Market website, and to also send the details about the reception which will be this Sunday. Here are some photos of my setup and progress.

Our first organized event was on Saturday evening. I met with some of the other artists prior to picking a location. We were told that there would be a photographer and a writer who would be doing an article about the event for our largest newspaper in the area, Newsday. The weather forecast was not good so I decided to get started quickly and paint near somewhere where I could take shelter if it started raining. I went into the Terry Street Garden which was near the Patchogue Arts Gallery. The photographer came over and took photos of me working. I think she took photos of 2/3 of us before it started to rain.

This is how far I go on the painting before the rain started. I packed up quickly and ran for cover by the gallery nearby. It rained for hours! My friend, Gina was so wet that she had to call her husband to bring her some dry clothes. It probably started raining about 7 and the writer wasn't coming until 8. Most of the artists (except for 3 of us) left once there was a slight lull in the rain. Gina, Segundo and I hung around until the writer came to do the interviews. The article should be in Newsday either today or tomorrow.

I didn't paint on Sunday because I had the monotype workshop. On Monday I debated as to whether or not I wanted to go back and work on the same painting or find a new location. I decided to return...once again the sky didn't look promising, but luckily it didn't rain. I decided to enhance the urn with some inkwork using my Elegant Writer pen. 

As the painting progressed I used more of the ink in the painting.

The finished version of the painting is below.