plein air.....what to paint?

This morning was my last class with JJ ( so, so SAD!)  Very sad to not be there on Saturday mornings any more....I brought him a "thank you" cupcake, completely forgetting that our Chinese students don't eat sweets like we sugar-loving Americans do and JJ, very graciously, turned it down.  Silly me...

Anyhow, last class was "let's go outside and paint something in the parking lot!"  Yikes!  So many things there, how to narrow it down?  Trees, stores, cars, people, fences, fountains, flowers, landscaping, bushes, benches....it's a bit of a visual smorgasbord when you're trying to condense your artsy thoughts into a painting.  

Fortunately, JJ to the rescue....he showed us how to change the scene, choose our focal point, use warm and cool colors and even move items around to make our composition more pleasing to the eye.

Did I mention that he's a great teacher?  I totally recommend his classes.

Well, we are supposed to loosely paint this fountain that's there...being loose is not my strong suit ( in more ways than one), PLUS, with Chris being gone for SO long, I am mentally and physically exhausted.  Did I mention that our fire alarm has been beeping the last few nights?  No?  well.......it has and....zzzzzzzzzz  Oy.

I'm sure it has something to do with batteries and blah, blah, blah...it's much easier to shut the door and put a pillow over my head than to search for a battery at 3am.....plus, if I get up, then the cats think it's playtime and the dog wants to go out and one child might awaken b/c she's scared b/c I shouldn't have let her watch that dinosaur show that traumatized her and she'll probably need therapy soon b/c she cried when the dinosaur ate the person (I forgot about that part, I swear) and we'll have to pay for it b/c therapy isn't cheap and that's why I need to sell some art soon b/c kids are expensive!  Plus, I'm not sleeping.....and I'll probably have to buy stock in Unisom soon...

Focus!

We get all set up and JJ does his demo, confounding us by how simple he seems to make it.  His brush pauses and lightly dances on the page and suddenly, a burbling fountain appears and in the next stroke, a bench and some perfect trees and I suddenly feel a headache coming on while I glance around to make sure that TT hasn't gotten kidnapped by some Cary yuppie...Oh, she's taken off her coat, socks, hat and boots and is now leaping over them like a horse...Phew....Once we sit down, it's a bit more intimidating.....

Here's my attempt....

Then, I'm at a loss....what to do now?  JJ offers to help and I'm so lost that I give him permission to touch my painting....this permission was not given last week...ha ha....b/c I'm so picky, when he tried to help me, I yelped, "Don't touch it!  I need to ruin it by myself!"  Mainly, it was pride speaking last week, but this week, pride was out the window b/c, YES, I needed help!  (that's hard for me to admit)  

So, with a few deft strokes, he basically fixes everything.....oy..I hear the fire alarm chirping again....no sleep tonight....

And it looks SO much better after he dabs here and there that I go back in and dab here and there, trying to imitate him and I end up sitting there, soaking up the sun and admiring my toes....don't they look nice?  I should have worn my toe rings....if I knew that I was going to photograph my toes with my art.  

So, all in all, I have no wisdom to impart b/c I usually come away from class realizing that I am still at the bottom of the tall and intimidating artsy mountain and most times, I have no idea what I'm doing...just winging it, really.

I guess that's a big part of art, following those glorious instincts and having fun.  

Here's to plein air painting......now, where's my chiropractor, I need an adjustment....