These days, social distancing is causing many public events to cancel or go virtual, so summer plein air painting events were cancelled or rescheduled, painters' conventions and workshops rescheduled, and so on. As an example, The National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPS) holds several exhibitions of member work annually and this year have moved online. This year, NOAPS is holding a Virtual Plein Air competition--a "paint out"--for members in conjunction with the Best of America Show (now open on the website). I had forgotten about it until a notice arrived in my inbox on Friday.
A paint out is an outdoor event. But the paint out in this context is painting a plein air scene selected from a group of photos on the website and submitting the work plus a couple of progress pix to show process. Given that there was no entry fee, it was a simple decision to enter.
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| Hoff, "Inlet," oil on panel, 8x10 |
There were perhaps twenty different reference photos posted on the online competition page, from which entrants could choose one only. This is my entry, "Inlet." I chose the subject because of the sky and water of course. It's a watery scene near St. Augustine in Florida. Using a mid-valued toned panel I laid out the basic shapes then blocked in colors, corrected the drawing, and added detail. The whole thing took perhaps ninety minutes. When I was finished I scratched my initials in the wet paint, a tradition of plein air painting indicating the work was done outdoors.
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