Stems Plein Air 2014 - part 3

To close out the Stems Plein Air painting competition, a morning quick paint was held on Saturday at the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. If you've never been to the farmstead, it's a great place for kids featuring animals, gardens, classic buildings, rides, fishing and nature trails.

The quick paint was scheduled to start at 7:30, and I had to find the perfect subject to represent the farmstead. I chose these classic kids tractors abandoned on the sidewalk from the previous day.
I was drawn to their color, the shadows they cast and the fact that they represented the farmstead theme and the fact that it is for children.

The horn blew at 7:30 and we began. Knowing that the light would rapidly change, I quickly blocked-in the major shapes and the shadows, establishing the light source.

25 minutes into the painting.

Once I had these major shapes defined, I spend the remainder of the time refining.

Here's the painting at about an hour and twenty minutes.

I finished with only a few minutes to spare, and headed in for the judging. As always, there were a number of wonderful paintings submitted. While I didn't win the quick paint, "Toy Tractors" (oil on canvas, 12"x16") did win 2nd place in the overall Stems competition.