There was a plein air event in Jupiter, FL and I found out the Quick Draw was this morning.  I didn’t have my pastels with me and this is the first time I participated in an event with a medium that I don’t normally use…..but I figured what the heck, I’ll give it a shot.

For those who don’t know what a Quick draw challenge is, you get two hours to do a painting and then they judge them and give out prizes.  There were a lot of great paintings and I was glad I did it using the oils.

I did have a lot of interruptions so there were a few things I didn’t get to in my painting.  People stop to ask questions and I didn’t have John with me to deflect the observers, since he stayed home to do things around the house.  I don’t mind the questions at all, but I realized how much John helps me when I paint, he usually entertains the people who stop to ask about what I am doing.

I didn’t win any prizes but I did win the satisfaction of following through a personal   challenge to use a medium I don’t use very much, tackling a complex subject within a two hour time frame and the final icing on the cake?  Seeing how all my hard work of drawing/painting/sketching every day with any medium and tackling any subject matter makes painting anything easier.  Who knows, I might take this one back to my studio and turn it into a larger painting.

“Red October”. The first time I saw the reference photo for this sketch I thought of the movie “Hunt for Red October” and the music played in my head as I sketched it. I killed a Bic Cristal sketching this lol. I hope I brought more with me.