Last updated on March 8th, 2010 at 03:50 pm
It feels like I have been gone forever between Mexico and the Paint Out. I finished in Alameda, California around six
yesterday then packed my bags and drove home to Sonoma County, California.
Yeah! My own bed! I have barely been able to use a computer for almost a month between traveling and the competition. I have lots to catch up on with my “Eight Women Co-dreamers”. Thank you for all your responses and being patient with me this last month being so absent.
The plein air paint out was great. I arrived in Alameda last Monday, got my canvases stamped and headed out to search for locations to paint. Artists in paint out competitions are given a host/hostess to stay with.
Mine was a very nice single mother who lived close to downtown. The unspoken understanding is that the host/hostesses receives a small painting for there generosity. This is my sixth paint out in the past three years and I found for the first time that I was able to remain calm.
The last month between weekend shows and travel, I had painted only twice. Alameda made up for that. I painted twelve hour days by cycling through a morning painting, an afternoon painting and an evening painting. I even squeezed in a night painting of houseboats using a flashlight. Sales for this event were also very low. I manage to sell one of my four paintings and felt fortunate because many artists were unable to sell any.   In some ways, the recession has allowed me to concentrate more on my passion for painting and less on the outcome.
The paint out ended yesterday with all the artists hanging their work on panels in a public area and we stayed all day to talk to patrons and hopefully sell. Many paint outs are fundraisers for art centers. When paintings are sold forty percent of the sales goes to the center.  So I sold my one night painting yesterday and was happy. The best part of the paint out was having hours and hours of uninterrupted time to paint.
Wendy
(Wendy’s dream is still to become a influential international artist, but she left 8 Women Dream in March of 2010 to complete grad school. She is still a strong supporter of 8 Women Dream and you will see her in the comments on the blog.)
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