2nd place in a beauty contest, collect $300!

82  F hot and humid, cloudy, hazy.

Today was the Bennington Arts festival paint out.

This was my morning painting, I'm behind Greenberg's lumber yard (going out of business, bad news).  The map of the downtown paint area was small, and included the main streets, of course I had to find an out of the way place!

#353 Washington Ave

12 x 16

$500

The morning was foggy, and thunder showers were predicted for the afternoon, but by the time I got started the sky had cleared enough, and this put sun on my panel! I liked this for the mountain view, and because I think it says something about the town...

The mountain really carries the painting, maybe too much...

There weren't much darks, I included the warehouse and the telephone pole, because they frame the mountain, and I like that, there're also dark.

For a parking lot there was a lovely regression from fore to mid ground.

There was lots of information and I'm not used to urban scenes, but by this time I was happy with the way I was able to simplify.

Telephone pole.

This is where I ended up. I was happy with it, even though I didn't think it was going to win any prizes or sell. I spent all of 2 hours painting, and now it was noon, so time to grab lunch!

This is the scene....

The organizers of the paint out encouraged us to paint here, and this happens to be a few steps from my favorite coffee houses so my post lunch coffee was right here, so I figured what the heck, it couldn't kill me.

 lights.

Darks

There were a lot of middle tones, although I've heard that all you need is three.

I thought I'd treat it like a farm......

This is where I ended up, I didn't submit this for judging.

The cars kept moving.....

The Money shot for the 2nd painting of the day.

I went out looking for the third spot of the day, I didn't have much time left, maybe an hour to actually paint if I didn't take too long to find it. I also forgot to take photos.

Here is where I ended up, I liked this and submitted it and thought it was better than the other one......

This is the sight size shot, I'm not sure why it's so dark, but at this point, I had to get the paintings signed, labeled and framed and delivered.

Wow! I got 2nd place, and some prize money!