We started early in the morn, to get all the way down to the Mt. Shasta area by 9-ish. The recent class I taught (an 8 day time period, with 3 meeting times) had opted to go paint out at the blooming lavender fields rather than meet in the classroom. When we left Ashland, Oregon it was a grey, cool day, but as soon as we passed into California, the sun was brilliant. The perfect day for outdoor painting.We arrived just after the
Lavender Farms opened and toured the area, snapping photos and envisioning where we'd what to start our plein air sketches. In the charming French style shop, we were greeted with the smell of lavender filling the room and a cup of lavender-lemonade, with a lavender swirl stick!On the walls they have showing various renditions of other artists images of the purple fields. One was a photo which may have used filters for it's effects, but I devoured the deep orange earth color and the late evening shadows - they were so strong and vibrant. And although the day was bright, light and breezy, you can see the sketch I ended up with mimicked those colors AND time of day.
We settled about center of the lavender rows and savored the bees humming and birds flitting from spot to spot. The magnificent Mt. Shasta pontificated over the entire scene and each of the class participants got varied renditions filled with self-expression and use of varied media.
And although we'd planned on leaving around 1pm, it was after 3pm
when we'd finished our second cup of the lavender-lemonade and eaten our treat, a shared bag of shortbread cookies.The day ended with weary artists but, many terriffic images, both mental and digital, to proceed with other paintings. I'm chewing on returning to the Lavender Farm to catch the lavender more full in bloom and to see it late in the day. I mean, how many times can one visit a goregous place? My answer ... endless times!!!
