72.  Original Plein Air Watercolor Painting, “Plein Air, 1:30-4:30pm, Wheat Field at Tinworks, 8.1.24”, watercolor, 24 x 36”, 2024

Location: Bozeman, MT

Event: Plein Air Montana

Event Awards: Bozeman Art Museum Purchase Prize

This painting, for me, was the most successful of the four I made for Plein Air Montana. It began with a curiosity about there being a gorgeous but short wheat field in the middle of town (why?) and ended with a satisfying few hours of painting outside, shaded by a structure adjacent to the field, including the buildings and cars beyond, even one of the museum staff weeding the field (an art installation), distinctive reflective red sunglasses and all. I wanted to outdo myself a bit from the architectural work I’d made for Plein Air Easton, which wasn’t quite up to my standards. This piece was successful because I truly took my time to observe, to mix the correct colors, to apply the layers with a strategy to allow the work to retain a high level of optical accuracy and linear refinement. It was also enjoyable to revisit the optics of reflections on cars (since the Plein Air Easton piece “Plein Air, 9:45am-1pm, Dover St, 7.19.24”) the brightest point of my field of vision. I painted the sky and wheat field first, leaving white of the paper at the horizon between, then re-visited that horizon to fill in all other elements.