"Mission Conception"

Plein Air Oil on linen

I painted this on location in San Antonio, Texas, on a recent Outdoor Painters Society trip for Plein Air Texas 2008. It was a very windy day and I made it through until the end of the painting just fine, holding onto my easel so it wouldn't blow over for about two hours - then, when I was packing up, my finished painting blew over face down on the dirt! I had it propped against a tree, which I thought would keep it out of the wind. I spent lots of time in my motel room picking off all the large pieces of dirt one-by-one with my palette knife. The rest stayed for "texture"! There is always a story when you do a painting outdoors.