Greetings to All,
Notwithstanding my Tuesday post, indicating that we would not paint this week, after lots of recalculating and after taking measure of the day's sun and blue sky, I managed to find one hardy soul -- Betsey -- to come out and paint with me this morning. Around 9:30, I pulled my car into the one space that I really-really wanted, just north of the alleyway by the Food Market. I set up my chair and low tables right next to my driver's side door, as there is a no-parking zone at the head of the alleyway, which minimizes the danger of a car turning in there. In the lee of my car, I was in an excellent sun trap, sheltered from the W/NW breeze.
Around 10 AM, Betsey set up her stool and gear right next to me. Except for fingers and noses, our layered clothing kept us quite toasty, and I even worked without gloves off and on through the morning. The paint started to freeze on my palette only once, probably around 11 AM. It was lots of fun, because people coming and going would stop and ask if we were nuts, amid other comments. Finally, around 11:45, the shadow of the market started to encroach, and the wind shifted westerly and picked up in velocity, blowing down the alleyway. But Betsey was finished already, and I was digging myself into a deeper hole laying in shadow shapes from a faulty memory. So we called it a day and ducked into Cilantro's to warm up and celebrate what may be our last paint-out of the year.
The toasty warm of the interior and the hot Chai for me and tea for Betsey were only made better by finding Gayle A. sitting there having a sandwich while he waited for his books to be wrapped up next door. Gayle says he has been very busy this year, painting a little, but working with an architect, developing professional drawings, as well as still dealing with family fall-out from the loss of Jeanne last year. But he was in good spirits, planning to head to DC over the holidays, and obviously doing a great job attending to his Christmas shopping, It was great to chat and catch up after such a long time.
So now we'll just hope to get a bonus paint-out next Thursday, when the forecast suggests we might expect much warmer weather. If it also has sun and not too much wind, we'll try to get out one more time. Then we call it quits no matter what the weather.
Photos from Guilford Green
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