Four-Hour Experiment

Last weekend, my hometown sponsored a four-hour painting contest. Thirty-five artists hauled their acrylic, oil, and watercolor paints, easels and canvases (including some very large ones) to the town plaza and set to work painting anything they could view from the plaza.

Since it takes me days or weeks to complete an acrylic painting, I wondered how it would feel to even attempt a painting in such a short time. Yesterday, I decided to find out. I set myself up in my favorite part of the garden with a 12 x 12-inch canvas board and my acrylics.

After the first hour, I had done this much. I thought I had plenty of time.:

After the second hour, I thought, "I have two whole hours to fill in the foreground.":

By the end of the third hour, panic was setting in.:

And by the end of four hours, this is as far as I got.:

© Ellen Blonder

Oh, well. I'll post this painting again when I've spent more time playing with it. Meanwhile, hats off to the artists I saw over the weekend--and they painted with hundreds of onlookers and myriad distractions.