Painting Adventure with Friends & Sat Caht (a day late)

Hi friends! I hope you are having a lovely weekend! Yesterday I went painting with friends in Hallowell and it was the perfect day! We started at the magical Vaughn Woods (aka Hobbit land) and painted the stone bridge and while we were painting there were several people in fairy costumes posting for photos. Later the woods filled up with teens and photographers getting senior pictures done. It was so pretty and big enough not to get crowded. Then we had a delicious wood-fired pizza lunch and found another place for urban sketching. I’ll share photos at the end of this post but first, here is this week’s Sat Chat!

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We hiked into Vaughn Woods and for once I didn’t feel like a pack mule, I think the weight-lifting might actually be paying off! We set up near the stone bridge and after a few photos, we got to work.

We had the bright idea to take group pics before we were all gross, sweaty, and covered in art supplies. We just won Instagram I think.

I woke up at 3:30 am and thought “I need to bring Cont’e Crayons!” and I actually remembered when I woke up for real and tossed them in my bag. I wanted to do a quick warm-up sketch with them before painting. I also want to use the Stillman & Birn Toned Tan Mixed Media book more so yay! It was not that quick but I like what I did.

The others were still working on their paintings but were almost done so I only had time for a quick pen sketch. I wanted to sketch from a new vantage point. I grabbed my Tombow Twin Tip, Black/Gray Fudenosuke Brush Pen, did a preliminary sketch with the grey, and then committed to lining with the black pen. I used the large tree in the foreground to measure the elements in the scene. I used the markings on the tree as reference points for the bridge, rocks and water. It worked very well.

I think I will watercolor it later. I loved all the work we did here. Check out the sketchbook throw-down of our paintings. So good!

After lunch, we wanted to paint by the river but it was hot and there was no shade so we looked for a new spot and found a grassy spot under some trees at the boat launch with a wonderful view of a church. I wanted to sketch that building the first time I saw it. I usually struggle with proportions so I held my sketchbook out in front of me so I could see the church, and made marks on the paper lining up with the steeple, gables, and edges of the building. This worked great and I feel like the proportions are good. I am still a novice at urban sketching but I see progress and it keeps me going!

Here is the reference:

Check out everyone’s work!

It was a magical day, we chatted and laughed and had a great time and although we are fairly new friends it feels like I have known these amazing women forever. I hope you have some creative people in your life and remember it’s never too late to form your art tribe! Happy crafting!

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