Painting at Shows

If I have the space, I like to paint at my art shows. There are a several reasons I find this effective.

1) It is a good lead-in for conversation

2) It gives me a chance to explain my wet-on-wet technique and my underpainting

3) Often people will come back to my booth to see how much I have painted

4) I find it puts people at ease as if I am inviting them into my studio

5) It gives me a good excuse to sit-down (I use a high director's chair so I am at eye level with people walking up to me)

6) It is a unique chance to sell the painting. When one has seen a piece in progress, one can become more invested in the final result.

This last show, Safari Club International, I brought a piece but had very little time to work on it. Usually I would have started with the water. In this case I started with the tundra swans, just working on their shadow areas. The rest I finished when I returned home.



Detail of painting

You can see my raw sienna/burnt sienna underwash on the birds. I think it works particularly well in this case to let it "shine" through from underneath.

Take Off

8" X 30"

Original Oil