Unexpected Rain Bombs Plein Air

Zoe from my egg tempera class wanted to go out plein airing, and I said I'd take her.

So we planned the date and I took her to my favorite tree in The Ramble.

Weather check was consistently good, even if a little chilly.

Central Park was just gorgeous and all the birds were out singing.

So off we went to paint.

And the unexpected rain started, and it was a lot.

My palette got soaked, it was bad.

Water does interfere with oil paint.

Still, we painted through it.

I changed my palette when the rain finally stopped......

Until.......

Zoe checked the weather again and more rain was expected in 20 minutes.

I speed-painted to a sort-of reasonable finish.

It's not where I wanted to go with the painting, I feel like it's about halfway there.

But this is the adventure of plein air and why we do it- for those unexpected challenges and hardships.

So, on Zoe's first outing she got onlookers, unexpected rain, and her painting face-planted paint-side down.  All the good firsts for plein air, now everything will be easier for her.

8x10 oil