I am happy to announce that my painting "Down from Andershock's" has won a Merit Award at the Hoosier Salon Member Exhibition.
The painting was painted en plein air on a beautiful Sunday morning. I had grabbed my plein air kit and left the house early, before anyone else was up. After driving around for a short while, I came upon this little garage/shed hidden away behind a local farmer's market building called Andershock's, on an off-road from HWY-20 and HWY-49. I pulled to the side of the road, lifted the trunk on the van for shade and set up to paint. After a while, I saw red lights flashing, a police car pulled up behind my van and an officer got out.
At this point, I'm halfway through the painting, it's going fairly well, and I don't want him to make me pack up and leave. After all, I'm just standing on the side of the road, keeping to myself—though I do realize this is not my property. So, I greeted him with a big smile and a "Hello". And with a stone face, he asked what I was doing. "Just painting," I told him. He said he just wanted to make sure there wasn't any trouble. Whether he meant my being in trouble, or me causing trouble, I'm not sure. He looked at what I was doing and mentioned it was looking pretty good. I tried to make some small talk, but he didn't say much, just stood there mostly. I knew the light was changing quickly, so I went back to painting the piece. He began to watch me paint. After a short while, he nodded, told me to have a nice day, got back in his car and drove away.
I continued to paint.
Unfortunately, Andershock's has since closed and the building, along with the trees and this little shed, have all been torn down. At least, I can look at this painting and remember it all.
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4 comments:
Nice painting. Worthy of the award. Congratulations. Good story, too. Nice to know the police in your town are actually keeping an eye on the dangerous artsy types. (smile)
Congrats on your award! Well deserved, for it's a beautiful painting.
Funny story too, AND I ALWAYS HAD YOU PEGGED AS A BAD BOY!
You know, I am glad that there are painters like you, for they do capture things that end up being bygones. I wish I had the talent to paint, for I often times think "I wish I could have painted that before it was gone, or taken a picture."
Thank you Rodrica.
I was painting the other weekend, again near the side of the road. As I was finishing up packing my gear away, I turned around and a police officer was there. He sat in his car and waved "Hello" to me. I have no idea how long he was sitting there, as I didn't turn around much during the painting process. No sirens, no lights, no horns. Who knew?
Thanks eight helping hands,
Sometimes I get to capture the scene, and I'm happy I did. Other times, like you say, it is gone before I get a chance, and end up wondering why I didn't get to painting it sooner.
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