sketches - October 1408

Middle of last week I got an email call-out for landscape painting for that Saturday. The plan was for a two o'clock meeting around the southern tip of Lake Merced, south-west of the City. I was a bit apprehensive about the time because it is Fall and the sunlight starts changing drastically by late afternoon. I tried to get them to go out earlier in the day, but to no avail. By the time we had met at the designated location, it was already past two. The location that was specified was not all that great in terms of "scenery", and so we all decided to go to another location on the North-East side of the lake, by SF State.

The new location seemed OK. By the time we had all set up, it was near three o'clock. The place that I had set up to paint was a little out in the open with no protection from the massive winds that were starting to pick up as the day wore on. At one point, a gust was so strong that it toppled my easel over along with my open palette of paint. It was quite annoying to have to scrape off a bunch of sand covered paint and squeeze out a new set. Two hours into the painting, I was cold, and my fingers were totally numb from the wind chill. Frustration also came on as the light kept changing faster than I could mix and lay down the colors, but no matter, I had brought my camera and took reference photos so I can complete the painting at home, where it will be nice and warm.