Paint Out Panorama

The Paint Out mentioned in the last post took place over the past weekend. Around twenty painters of all kinds gathered along the west bank of the Des Moines River last Friday evening near the new skateboard park. Across the river is the Chinese pavilion with its distinctive roof line and the Ray Asian Gardens stretching along the eastern bank southward. The expanse of green and the trees made an interesting contrast with the rectilinear building shapes of condominiums and apartments. The Iowa capitol is peeking from behind the reddish building on the extreme right.

"The Ray Asian Gardens," oil on panel, 8x16

This piece began like many with a wash of burnt sienna, then a rough composition of basic shapes, then building form and color. The light faded from the brightness of late afternoon to shadow within less than two hours, so I detailed this one in the studio from a reference snapshot.