Plein Air - Lavender Farm

 This summer has been hitting off in all the right ways; yesterday was my first day plein air painting for the year! I'm participating in ArtWalla's Annual Margaret Walters Paint Out , a multi-date event encouraging artists to visit some of the most beautiful locations in the Walla Walla Valley for on-the-spot painting. The finished works will be presented in gallery format and a portion of proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the Picture Lab, a non-profit organization that provides art education for elementary-school children in the Walla Walla Valley. Our first plein air location was the Blue Mountain Lavender Farm! Oh, and how beautiful it was.

But of course, before I could just jump right in, I had to get prepped! The day prior, I made sure all my particle board was dressed accordingly. I wanted to have a whitened surface to work on top of so I Gessoed my MDF boards, giving them a clean paper-like start.

Typically, I like to paint directly onto plain MDF boards because the surface is already smooth to my liking. Although this method is not archival, it does lead to a quicker dry time between coats because the oil paint absorb a bit into the wood. I still find this method better suiting for me then working with fast drying paints like acrylics, as acrylics seem to become overworked easily and don't mix as kindly as oils.

But this time, I Gessoed! Each board received a nice even coat and a couple sandings in-between. Once dried, I packed them up and was ready to go! I can't wait to show the finished studies from this beautiful location.

Poppies & Lavender

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The start of a study

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