Pastel Plein Air at the Crossing and Other Photos

The plein air group met at The Crossing in Bastrop on Monday.  It is an area with old buildings that have been moved in right on the river.  The buildings house a mishmash of businesses on and off.  There is usually a restaurant, clothing store, music store, tea shop, and the river boating place.  There are many antiques around including cars and a tractor.  It is fun to see and a good place for a variety of subjects to paint.

It was cloudy and threatening rain, so I decided I wanted a colorful scene to paint.  I chose to paint the building that houses the boats.  It is the Bastrop River Company http://www.bastropriverco.com/.  They are equipped for any kind of river travel as you see.  If you want a fun day or more on the river contact them.

I painted for about an hour and a half.  It did sprinkle at one point but I was under a good tree.  There were four artists and we each painted something different.

Arriving at the crossing and checking out the art from the Art in Public Places.  The artists have been painting the utility boxes.  Pretty nifty.

I painted for about an hour and a half.  I was working on Colourfix sanded paper with an assortment of brands of pastels.  I got a fairly decent start and finished in about the same amount of time at home.

 This is the start and the amount I finished at The Crossing.

 I came home and added more detail and worked on separating the trees and other objects.

I added the flags and this is the finished painting.
Boathouse
Pastel on Colourfix,  9 x 12 inches

Carolyn made me smile.  She said, "I love the sign, I think if I get closer I could read it!"  As you see, can't be done.  I like it better in person that in these photos.  Hmmmm.  As it should be I suppose.  Smile.

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You know I have a new camera and I have been trying things.  I can certainly get better photos using the zoom than I did before.  

I sat on the door step and took these of the birdfeeder, birdhouse and spiderweb.  If anyone wants to paint a spiderweb, I will be happy to get a closeup.  Smile.

Gene has been busy working on the garage.  The two car garage was separated by an insulated wall.  The one side had been used for a workshop and has an air conditioner and the windows. The wall takes up space and makes it very hard to get in and out of the bigger car.  It will be much more useful now.  Gene has his workshop in a shed out back.