Spring Has Sprung!

"The Lover's Pool, Dumbarton Oaks" 30x24 oil on canvas

      Today was a cool and sparkling spring day and it was really killing me that I was missing a paint out with friends up at River Bend Park in Great Falls Virginia. The Virginia Bluebells were in bloom along the Potomac and that is always a lovely thing to see.  I have allergies.  The wind was really blowing and so was my nose:( 
      The day reminded me of an April day that I painted in 2010.  The painting, which has long since found a new home, is seen here on the left.  Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown has one of the most beautiful gardens in the world and this painting is of the "Lovers Pool" in a corner of the garden.  Actually there were more people there. Children were running down the hill and couples strolling down the path but what caught my attention was this old man just sitting there enjoying the weather, the pool and the bluebells that were in bloom there on the hill.

Top of the lane near my house

    Allergies may have prevented me from painting today but not from taking a brief photo shoot around my house.  I liked this one of the top of the lane and would like to paint the view down the lane later this week. 
     Instead I worked in the studio today and started a new painting of the Key Bridge.  I am painting on gessoboard again and used yellow ochre for the underpainting.  I blocked in the composition and that was all I managed to do today.
    
     I just came home from dropping off some paintings at the Art League and was happy to see that the little plein air painting I showed you in February, "The Torpedo Factory Marina, February" sold this month.  That is always good news!







Beginning of the new Key Bridge painting, no title yet