Adirondack Plein Air Festival

Rearview Mirror Inspiration, 9x12 pastel on board

Last week I participated for the first time in the Adirondack Plein Air Festival, in Saranac Lake. Below is a summarized account of what I did each day.

Day 1: Paint the Village
The trip to get there took me 4 hours but the scenery along the way was great and I had the chance to take lots of photos for future studio paintings. Once I got in the village the first thing I did was to get my boards stamped then immediately went around looking for a subject to paint in a 5x7 format that I had agreed to donate for a silent auction. After a while I found a river spot, by a supermarket, with a red bridge. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it! Afterwards I headed for a place I had seen on my previous trip there, that had a nice field and a great view of the mountains.

A Magnificent View, 11x14" pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

 Day 2: Paint the VIC (Visitor Interpretive Center)/Paul Smith College
I got up very early and seeing fog from my bedroom window I decided to scout first some nearby locations before heading to Paul Smith College, 12 or so miles away. Once there I did more traveling looking for a pond to paint. After a while I settled for one I had seen earlier on that morning, but by then I had wasted 2 precious hours!  The funny thing is that three other pastellist arrived to paint the same scene after I got there, Then two other artists painting in oils joined us too. I worked slow and easy on this one and ended up spending close to 3 1/2 hours on it!

Kingfishers'Playground, 9x12" pastel on board

Afterwards, I headed for the VIC in search for more to paint. I really did not find anything inspiring there, but since there was to be dinner for the participants right there later on, I forced myself to paint trees. The painting was coming along well but at some point I ruined it; maybe I put too much darks to indicate areas under branches, in any case it wasn't worth posting it here.
  On the way home I stopped at Donellys' Ice Cream and started a painting of the barn and shed behind the store. I knew my chances of finishing right there were slim, but I got a lot done before it got too dark to continue.

Day 3: Paint the Adirondacks
I went to a marsh area on Rt 3 and found another artist painting there already. The day was cloudy and the clouds kept on changing, and I started chasing the clouds; good thing I realized what I was doing and changed gears. Next time I'm in a similar situation, I'll make sure I either stick with the original design (if it's good) or make the cloud area as small as possible in the painting.

Hope for a Sunny Day, 9x12", pastel on board

On my way to my next location by impulse, I stopped first to paint a shed with a painting of a moose head sticking from a window. My composition included mostly the road so the shed was tiny, but working under the shade of trees did not help and the painting will likely be erased.
I drove several miles to Clear Pond, which I had seen the day before, and although the scene was beautiful, I did not feel like when I saw it first. I had some serious struggles with this painting. First I started it in a vertical format but before I was done with the main outline I switched to a horizontal one. Then in the middle, I simply gave up and erased it right there, which I had never done before with any painting. Very disappointed I sat by the bridge railing and realized that things weren't working because I was very tired. After some minutes of relaxation I tried starting another painting but halfway into it I knew it was a waste of time. I spend  the next hour just taking pictures of what I had produced.

Before heading home (to frame) I went the opposite direction simply to take more photos. Seeing cattle under a tree, I looked for a way to get closer to them. I spotted a side road that intersected the road I was on just a few feet ahead so I took it and had a better view of the cows. I continued driving, looking for a spot to turn around, and that's when I saw  "my scene" in the rear view mirror. My tiredness magically dissipated. I pulled over, got my gear ready, and started to work. I worked fast and by the time it was dark I was done. This was my best painting in the event (it's the painting above). It did not win anything, but I got nice comments on it from several artists, and it sold!