Coyote Hills Paintout

We checked in at 6:30 am and had our canvases stamped. I was glad I had put on five layers of clothing because it was so cold! I had tucked "Little Hotties" inside my gloves. The sun was just starting to come up as I set up my easel at the edge of the marsh.

I took a photo, and this is what the camera saw. Well, the idea is to catch the feeling, more than the appearance, and who wants to paint all that brush? So, racing the sun and painting as fast as I could, I did the top painting!

Here it is in progress. 

This event was sponsored by the East Bay Parks, and Coyote Hills is part of the park system. After I completed the first painting, I walked to the top of a very steep hill to do a second painting. Well, now the sun was really up, and people were coming in to the park. They were all making comments about the paintings and how the different artists were painting differently (I think there were about 30 of us.) One guy took my picture, then I gave him my brush, and let him paint on my painting while I took his picture! It was a lot of fun!

Here are some more of the artists.

At 12:30 we all had to stop painting and return to the visitors' center, where we were given a tasty lunch by the park staff. We all were to bring frames and easels to display our paintings. Each artist had to choose one painting to display.

 

The park staff had set-up canopies so we could display our paintings without sitting out in the sun. Here you can see the artists setting up. People could vote on a People's Choice and bid on a silent auction to buy their favorite painting. Unfortunately, by this time it had become very windy! The easels started blowing over. Then the canopies were blowing over! So we took them down. But we all had a really good time!