This is me at Holly and Commercial in Bellingham, WA on a cloudy day in August.

Plein Air painting

So, I went out and painted in public for really the first time. I mean, I've painted in public but sort of incidentally. The point of this outing was actually to paint in public. The event is called Plein Air Paint Out, organized by Trish Harding of Studio UFO in Bellingham.

Now, in case you're an artist considering an event like this, go for it! How liberating to know people are going to look at and judge your work and there's nothing you can do about it. It's done. And you know what, it doesn't hurt so much. I actually got a lot of nice comments and really, who's going to say something mean to your face. And realistically, no matter how accomplished an artist you are, you aren't going to appeal to everyone all the time anyway.

Over the next several weeks, I'll be tweeking and trying to perfect the paintings I started. Perfection is always just out of reach, but we must reach for it. The show starts November 5 and I'm excited to know at least one of my canvases will be hanging at the Blue Horse gallery for most of the month. I'll be there for the opening night, I hope you will too.

Hop over to www.maryquintrall.com and join my mailing list to get info and reminders!