49.  Original Plein Air Watercolor Painting, “Plein Air, Cormorant, 9.19.24”, watercolor, 18 x 24”, 2024

Location: Mendocino, CA

Event: Mendocino Open Paint Out

Event Awards: Best In Show - Watercolor

I knew that the key to this piece would be to correctly paint the outline silhouette of this cormorant, and to get it right on the first try, in extremely dark sticky watercolor, over a fairly vague ground of orange rock, which I embellished later once the bird was roughly complete. This bird held this pose in this exact spot for an hour and a half while I painted, just ater I finished “Plein Air, 4-5pm, Waves washing over rocks at Point Arena Sea Lion Rocks, Overcast / foggy, 9.19.24”. I’d already packed my things to leave when i noticed the bird. When after fifteen minutes it still hadn’t moved, I knew I had to paint it. With a live animal holding still, I was able to go into the kind of detail that usually only working from a photograph or a dead specimen permits, but with the real thing, out-of-doors. I am so grateful for such special moments, made possible by getting out there, a lot.