Bluebird at The Box

I see this bluebird box on my walks thru a local park, this time I caught the bluebird at home.

Almost plein air

My wife and I decided to spend the afternoon along the Delaware river in Washington Crossing. I brought my paints along to do some painting since we were going to be there for about four hours. While we were eating lunch I was looking around to see what scene would make a good painting. It was overcast already with possible thunderstorms later on. The scene I settled on was a house across the river and its long reflection in the water. I did a verticle pencil sketch to emphasize the long reflection from the house and indictated the value pattern of the scene. I did a quick sketch to see what it looked like horizonally.
I sketched the scene on the canvas and no sooner I started squezzing out the paint when we hear a rumbling in the sky. Maybe eight seconds later a bolt of lightning hit right across the river from us.When I looked up Maria was already packed and on her way.
On the way home the weather improved so we stopped off at a local park to finish the afternoon. Now removed from the scene the painting has to be finished from the pencil sketch and my memory from studying the scene during lunch. I got halfway through the painting when the skies opened up...afternoon over.

When I got home I finished the almost plein air painting!! This is the result.

Finally Finished

Flyfishing,  A Jumper ,  16x20 oil

I finally finished this painting, it sat half finished for months while I started and finished other paintings. It gave me time to look it over and make neccessary adjustments that I didn't see the first time around.
A self portrait of sorts, being in a place like this is good therapy for the body and mind.
Thanks for looking,
Pat