Plein Air at the Fair
This past weekend proved to be fun, exciting, and indeed challenging. The popular Erie County Fair held annually in Hamburg, NY features many exhibits of creative expression from flower arranging to photography to fine art painting. For the past several years, they’ve been including a relatively new addition and that’s a plein air painting competition. Plein air is a French expression meaning “in the open air,” and is typically used to describe the act of painting from real life in an outdoor setting. I’ve been intrigued by the idea of entering this contest in the past, and finally went ahead and did it this year for the first time.
The rules include starting out with a blank surface and painting (or drawing) on site from some subject matter on the fairgrounds. The artists get to choose their own subjects. We had six hours in which to complete our projects. Blank canvases were initialed on the back at check-in to make sure no one was bringing artwork started ahead of time. And so the contestants spread out across the vast venue and got to painting. My choice of subject was the outdoor equestrian ring.
Everything was going well on this hot sunny day until the predicted clouds started rolling in. Even earlier than expected, the monsoons came. I felt prepared, pulling the plastic sheeting I’d dutifully brought with me over my artwork before taking cover myself under a narrow porch roof. Eventually the steel gray sky opened up a bit and I ventured out to continue. It wasn’t long before round two came on. This time my plastic tarp was useless, having been previously soaked by the first deluge. So I grabbed my painting and scurried under the tiny covered area along with numerous other horse spectators who were also seeking shelter. I wasn’t so concerned about my own staying dry as about protecting the fresh oil painting which I clutched, trying to keep the back of it towards the rain. Again, things let up a bit and I tentatively stepped out onto the wet lawn to adjust my equipment, which was now thoroughly soaked. How the other artists were faring with mother nature that day, I could only imagine.
The third time, the skies let loose with unprecedented fury. The group of spectators and I huddled again under the narrow roof as the rain came down in sheets, turning the horse arena into a mud ring. “What a great day for painting this turned out to be,” was my train of thinking, though I somehow managed to see the adventure in it all, and took it as a challenge to make the whole ordeal a part of the painting process. I found myself thanking God for letting me have the experience.
At length, the storm trickled off again. When I stepped out onto the grass this time, my feet were completely immersed in brown water. Physical comfort was no longer a part of this picture. It was time to get the work done. So I sloshed back over to my work area and proceeded to take heart at the announcer’s voice explaining over the loudspeakers that the rain would be taking a break for a while. Somehow I finished that painting in what I estimate to be about four and a half hours, after subtracting all the time spent in mere survival mode.
My fellow horse show spectators were generous in sharing their positive feelings about my painting as they watched me working. They kindly accommodated my need for space as I attempted to keep the canvas as dry as possible. Nevertheless, finishing the piece included my having to repair the artwork after the many watery attacks from the skies that day. In the end, the work turned into what I was going for – a collaboration between nature and me, as I even chose to leave some of the rain marks in the paint to enhance the design and act as a memento of the day’s adventures.
I made it in on time to submit the painting for judging where it’s now on display along with the works of my fellow intrepid artists who defied the weather reports to participate. I’m grateful to the competition’s judge who chose to award my painting first prize in the professional category. The show will be up until the end of the fair on August 21, 2016.