Plum Island marshes

12"x12" pastel on Uart  $100

I am finally back home in my studio. I had gone up north for some vacation time to visit my mom and sisters in CT. My sister surprised me with a trip to Newburyport MA and a 2 night stay in a B&B ! For one of our day trips we headed out to Plum Island. I brought along my plein air bag thinking I would have time to paint. Unfortunately, the green head flies had just hatched in the marshes. For those of you who know - they are EVERYWHERE and they BITE! So I ran out of the car and snapped as many photos as I could and somehow managed not to get any bites. 

my reference photos

 When we got back to the B&B, I pulled out my plein air bag and sat outside at the gazebo. I wanted to get some studies done while the images were still fresh in my head.

 2 small studies 5"x5" and 5"x7"

Back home in my studio I used the reference photos and my studies to a larger painting. I had just bought myself a new set of Schmincke watercolors to keep in my plein air bag,so I used them to do an underpainting.

watercolor underpainting on Uart 500

I wanted the underpainting to show through, so I lightly layers on the pastels. I used Terry Ludwig, Girault and Schmincke pastels on Uart 500 paper.

After 2 weeks away, I was very happy to get back to work in my studio.