Wednesday Morning At Kentford Farm, plein air - sold

8"x10" oil on linen mounted on archival panel (Raymar)

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Today was the perfect day! I spent the morning over at Kentford Farm, painting for a charity art auction they are hosting this Saturday. The charity is Alliance for Living, and the event is called "The Gardener's Delight"

Saturday, May 16, 2009
9:00am - 2:00pm

Proclaimed by Connecticut Magazine to be one of
CT's Premier Perennial Gardens
Master Gardener & Owner,
Paul Coutu, will provide Tours of Kentford Farm
Selected Perennials & Vegetables

Plant Sale:
Home grown plants by Master Gardeners’
Corinne Clevenger, Diane Hitchcock and Paul Coutu


Advanced Tickets:

Total Gardener’s Package $25.00 :
Garden Tours by Owner of Kentford Farm and
Master Gardener, Paul Coutu, and
en Plein Air Art Exhibition, Auction & Champagne Reception

For garden tours only, it is $10 and the tours start at 10 & 12 noon.

You can purchase your tickets in advance by visiting this website
and scrolling down the the May event.

If you are local, I hope you can make it. These are the most beautiful gardens I've seen in a long time....anywhere!

You can see by the photo of the back of the painting, I've started making notes on the back of my plein air pieces. Just noting some thoughts about the day, unrehearsed and unedited, the written word helps to reinforce the visual memory of the day for me. I hope you'll enjoy reading them.

After my beautiful morning, I came home for lunch, then went back to the commission I'm working on. It is of a mother and step-daughter - and what a wonderful pair. They really look like they enjoy each others company - and they are a joy to paint! Since all the ground-work of an underpainting was put in yesterday, I began with the faces, and am working into the back-ground and garments, going back and forth to each part of the painting. All the parts relate to the other- so even though I lay in the darkest darks first, I continue building color in that way. I'll be back to that tomorrow morning and continue the whole day with that painting!