COLD, COLD and POSSIBLE SHOWERS

Whoa, today was a harbinger of what's to come.Tim and I started at 8:30 A.M. for the days plein air painting. Breakfast was the usual 'The Brakeman' at the RR "dorm". Eggs over,dry hash browns,dry bacon, dry toast,and Joe. I drove and Tim bough today so it was a definite great way to start the day.But the weather predicted showers and cooler temps. Tim wanted to know where we were headed today. I thought the orchard would be cool. A family owns the place over three or four generations.The Doud's were horticulturists second to none. Actually I don't care for apples except in pies. Yeah that's ala mode. Hey Joe if you're reading this I'm laughing with you. Tim likes pies too in fact Tim and I like just about any thing that is food. But I digress. We were headed for Doud's but arrived to find the site pretty boring artistically. O.K. where now? I said we'd drive west and look for something challenging. Just down the road I pulled into a field gravel apron for combines or other farm equipment. Let's start here.You know find something interesting from the vantage up the road west or down the road east. Tim seemed uninspired by the views but decided he could find something art worthy. Me, I liked the round hay bales stacked along the fence line up the side of the road. The weather was nippy and windy. I setup in the lee of the Scion. Tim parked on the west side facing the farmhouse. We worked for several minutes before we both started complaining of the cold. I was working on a large sheet of rag print stock meaning it was cotton paper 22"x30". Tim's pastel paper was about 9"x12" pastel stock. The wind and low temperature was causing my fingers to lock up in the joints. Nevertheless,we stayed with it for another hour and a half. We loaded up and Tim suggested the heater on high. As our fingers thawed the cold in the joints actually stung like hornet stingers. Ouch. But Tim nailed it and I was pretty happy with the abstraction of laying in impasto color like a barbeque brush. Hey Joe, BBQ!

Awesome piece Tim. It even looks cold!