out the storm. If someone had offered me a ride right then, I would have taken it! Hunkered down with my coffee, I watched the skies race above me and enjoyed the spectacle while I wondered if I really needed to be sitting out there in the rain. The rise I was painting from, while exposed, was far from being the high point in the landscape, and surely the park shelter would be grounded against lightning? But still I counted the seconds between the flash and  the thunder, until it was clear the storm was heading away from me. Then I marched back up the hill to finish. The wind was considerable, so even in my position behind the park map, the rain was making puddles in my pochade box and filling my shoes with water, so it was an urgent situation. Each time I stepped back to take a look at my progress I got wetter and colder, and eventually I had to call it quits. It was a dark bike ride back. But what an experience!

I was about an hour into this painting when the group I came with, part of the Dane County Plein Air Painters Association, decided to heed the warning of the distant thunder and headed for their cars. A few of them kindly offered me a ride, but I am a bit stubborn, and thought it unlikely I would ever get to paint in a storm if I retreated from the first encounter, so I chose to stick it out. Their friendly faces hadn't been out of sight for more than five minutes when the sound of rain rushing across the grasses towards me made me bundle up my painting kit and race for shelter. Luckily there was a small map and informational post complete with a concrete pad and a metal roof just yards from my initial starting point, so I deposited all my gear there, and took a thermos and a brownie down the hill to wait

Thunder over Pheasant Branch Creek

August 4, 2016​, 5:30-7:30pm

Oil on Canvas, 10x12

$240.00