My Day: Planned and Unplanned

Of all the things I listed in my previous posted plan, here is how some turned out:

1. Painting from Best Buy parking lot: Check.

I arrived at 7:30 sharp, immediately set up to work. The view is an airport and environ. Despite the haze hanging over the entire field, the several layers of distant mountains were still visible in varied purplish blue. The Best Buy was built on what used to be a hill top, hence the bird-eye view which attracted me in the first place. The elevation caused a practical problem, though: the constant wind threatening to topple at any moment my easel which is pretty much just a skinny legged tripod. Having no time to waste, I decided not to use the easel but to prop the board on my lap instead. This allowed me to hang on to my painting when the wind blew hard. I soon discovered while I had control over the painting, I had to struggle to keep the sun hat on my head.The sun was climbing high and I desperately needed that hat. For the next five hours I battled to keep the hat from being lifted off my head and carried across the parking lot.

Things went pretty smooth. I stayed till past noon with practically no interruption save the wind. Because I was in a side lot for employee parking facing away from the customer parking, and set up behind a row of cars, I was out of the public view for the most part. The only exception happened when a youngish looking FedEx driver who apparently was there to deliver merchandise to the store, honked behind my back. He very politely, but persistently asked me how much I would charge for the picture despite my repeated answer that it was just a beginning sketch for a bigger painting, and that I was far from completing it, and wasn't sure I wanted to sell it. I don't know how sincere he was about buying the picture, nonetheless I was touched by his young and serious manner. If he was indeed sincere, I would be touched by that too, that in the current economic situation someone would give a thought for buying a painting.

2. The stovetop grill pan: Check.

My original plan of shopping after painting didn't quite pan out. Half way through the painting expedition, I got a call from KDM, who was supposed to see me at the parking lot with coffee and a pencil sharpener which I forgot to bring in my hurry to leave the house. He reported that his truck wouldn't start possibly due to a bad battery. Now he needed a ride to town to have the battery tested and buy a new one if needed.

So the rest of the day went like this: I wrapped up my painting, drove home with my tongue hanging out and in blurry vision (always after I paint), downed a large glass of cold water (check that, too) and a bowl of cereal, helped KDM load up the bad battery and headed back to town (we live 25 miles outside it). A little more than an hour later I was in a store looking for my grill pan, and found one for a very good price. By the time we got home, it was close to five o'clock.

3. Grilled eggplant: No.
4. Ten more pages of Dorian Gray: No.

Somehow I was satisfied with how the day went. The painting sessions yielded a lot of thoughts on painting better, which only make me want to go back to do some variations.