Plein air fun...

Yesterday evening the local plein air painters group came to paint here at Crosswinds again.  Oh, we had such a great time!  We scheduled for 5pm to try to beat the heat, and it turned out to be a beautiful evening with a breeze off the water keeping the bugs and heat at bay.   I told them I'd have some snacks and beverages... that morning Michael declared that he was going to make a cassoulet (see below)!  OMG - it was terrific.... and then everyone showed up with delicious food too!  What a feast... oh yeah, and they painted too... ; )

I was beat from doing figure drawing that afternoon (takes alot of concentration), so I decided to simplify and just do some sketches in my notebook while they painted.  I did a scribbly sketch of the three gals painting out front - too tight...  Tried another sketch of Michael and Harry chatting in the adirondack chairs... parts of it were okay... then I tried it again, really trying to get into the "contour" mode where you try to imagine the edge of your pen moving along the edge of what you are seeing.  Its like the line just starts going and connects everything you see whether its man, plant or beast... this one was my favorite.

By the way, a cassoulet is a provincial French dish usually made with duck, sausage and beans.  Michael made a variation with chicken, sausage and white beans - quite wonderful...

And here's a shot of Eleanor, Susan and Barbara painting in the wind out front!  Great fun.