Kettle Cove 20

I haven't painted out for quite a while with the the wild winter that we have had this year. I was really feeling the need to get myself out there, so I decided to start a Greater Portland chapter of the Plein Air Painters of Maine (PAPME.) Today was the inaugural painting day. There were 3 of us at Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth. I started to get ready to go at 9:30 this morning, but it was 7 degrees. Waited awhile before I headed off to paint, at about 11:30 it was 18 degrees right by the water and a little windy as I started the painting. I wasn't cold at all, proper gear makes all the difference, down jacket over EMS base layer and sweater, Patagonia men's ice climbing pants over wool skiing knee socks and Patagonia tights with super winter boots from Reny's, Rangers with Thermolite lining, 2 scarfs, 1 fleece, 1 wool, fleece bomber hat, 3 gloves on the left hand and 2 on the right. Some nice finger less fishing gloves from Cabela's are the best, with EMS liners underneath. Finished painting at abut 1 pm and went for a hike in the park in the snow without snowshoes, followed the deer tracks for about a half hour, hard work! I was really happy to get out and get some sun on my face! I used a dark magenta pastel primer layer on Kitty Wallis paper dry mounted to acid free foam core that I washed with Spectrafix and a big paint brush. It took awhile for the Spectrafix to dry in the cold! I used mostly Terry Ludwig pastels in the painting. Now I'm excited for more winter painting!

"Kettle Cove 20" pastel on paper, 9 x 24