Painting and Sneezing: Cummings Skyway Sunset

The hills were alive with the glow of the sunset, and also, unfortunately, millions of grassy pollen particles blowing in the wind. The sneezing started when the painting was about 3/4 finished. I’ve heard that it’s best to stop painting when you think you’re 75% done so maybe the allergy attack did me a favor. When I realized I was using more of my paper towels for blowing my nose than I was for wiping my palette knife and brushes, I realized it was time to pack up.

I’ve driven along Cummings Skyway many times en route to other painting sites and have always marveled at the amazing views from the road. I was glad when my Sunday plein air group scheduled it for a late afternoon paint-out today. The pull off on the side of the road was big enough for about 8 of us to park and paint near our cars.

In between the roar of speeding motorcycles, passing semi-trucks and the occasional family car that thought it was fun to honk at us as they passed, there was the sound of crickets and the friendly murmur of conversation from other painters. Along with the wonderful warm sun on my face (and the not so wonderful glare in my eyes from facing into the sun) there was the wind that kept me cool (and blew that darn pollen).

Here’s a photo of the scene when I arrived at 3:30. As the sun set, the shadows deepened and the tops of the ridges lit up. This was my first time painting hills at sunset and it was great fun and a good challenge. I tried to focus on composition and selected this chunk of the view from the wide panorama available.