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| "Path to the Lake" 9x12 Oil - Available |
Here's a group activity well-suited to these times—a paintout. There's no problem with close quarters, and fresh air is in abundance. And for those of us who have been painting alone in our back yards, it's an opportunity to reconnect with our social selves.
Last weekend, I hosted a paintout at a local lake for Plein Air Painters of New Mexico. Nine of us gathered—so to speak—to spend the day under the intense sunshine of early fall. Despite a breeze that picked up in the afternoon, we couldn't have asked for a better day. The chamisa bloomed with a bounty of bright gold, and yellow edged the boughs of the cottonwoods. The lake waters glowed with a dull green, dabbed with blue here and there by the reflected sky. I've been longing to paint the chamisa ever since it started blooming, so that was my focus; others painted the lake view.
In New Mexico, the state currently requires masks to be worn when in public, and gatherings are limited to ten. We followed the rules—a mask does not hinder painting—and even during a lunch break under a bit of shade, we kept our distance. Now that cooler weather has arrived, I'm hoping to host more of these.
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| You're right--I'm not wearing a mask in this photo. That's because everyone else was a few hundred feet away! |
