54.  Original Plein Air Watercolor Painting, “Plein Air, 5:45-6:15am, Pre-Sunrise, Safe Harbor, Oxford, 7.14.24”, watercolor, 22 x 30”, 2024

Location: Oxford, MD

Event: Plein Air Easton

Event Awards: Grand Prize, Quick Draw; Auto-invite for Plein Air Easton 2025

One of the best times of day to observe amazing cloud and water colors is just before the sunrise. I’ve seen such views many thousands of times, but usually I’ve been out on the water in a rowing shell, driving it along the water, not at all equipped to paint. This painting, I think, comes from the pent-up energy of observing such light so many times without the opportunity to paint it. Here was that chance. I got up very early (4 am or so) to make it to Oxford MD to have time to set up and paint from 5:45-6:15am, working a bit longer for finishing touches. Within the foreground waves, you can see the orange from the lit clouds above - an effect I’d tried and failed to paint in several previous works. The view is complicated and subtle in terms of the light, but structurally very simple: Sky (with clouds); strip of land; land reflection; water base; waves. There was already a humid mist over the water, and it was already very hot outside, even at this hour. I shared a skinny dock with morning fishermen.