En Plein Air: Airport Reconstruction (Oil, 11 x 18)

Two weeks ago when I was on my way to Gulf Coast Town Center to paint and passed by SW Florida Airport, I was impressed by the Magnitude of the construction project. It seems that another highway is under construction leading to the airport. The new highway is meant to cut across Treeline Blvd. at the entrance of the airport. The yellow sandy dirt had been piled like several  mountain ridges stretching out all way to the horizon. Without any vegetation to cover on top, the sandy dirt was so glaring and bright that it was difficult to open my eyes. So I decided right away that I would come here to paint.

I went there early this morning, thinking nobody would come to work. After I set up on the roadside and began to paint, I heard someone whistling at me from the mountain ridge behind. I turned around, a guy wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses got out of a pickup and made a gesture asking if I was painting. I nodded yes and he gave me a thumb-up signal. I guess he was something like an assistant manager on the construction and happened to come on Saturday to check on the site. Obviously there were lots of machinery and construction materials there.

Half way in my painting, another guy stopped his truck. He seemed to be something like supervisor. He apologized to me and said he had to ask me to leave the site because people were coming to work  and it was dangerous for me to stay there. He suggested I come to paint tomorrow when nobody was working. I didn't want to make another trip so reluctantly I took a few pictures and completed the painting at home.

In this corner, there is a bulldozer, a gas tank, a shipping container and a garbage bin. I didn't know why the bulldozer had its hood up. Since I was unable to visualize what it looked like with the hood down, I simply painted as it was.