Plein Air Oil Sketch: Rich (14 x 11)

I went to my friends the McIntosh's home this afternoon. When I got there, they were not home. As usual, I helped myself by pulling the painting kit all the way across the creek to their stable. I meant to paint the horses. Somehow, the horses were pretty high today. They were moving around all the time. Before long they all went away, too far to paint. I looked around and saw over the fence a man was fixing springle heads in his onion field. I watched him working in the sun for a while before I walked over toward him. His name was Rich, the McIntosh's next door neighbor.

I introduced myself as the McIntosh's friend and told him that I was an artist who painted in the area pretty often. Then he asked me if I was painting at Michael's farm the day before and said he saw me when he was driving on the road. Then I remembered I did waved to someone in a car, mistaking him for my friend. I offered to paint him over the fence if he could sit there for an hour. He told me he happened to need a break. Therefore, he turned over a large blue container and sat there for me, almost directly facing the sun. Rich was very friendly and we kept chatting as I was painting him. I knew I had to rush. I didn't think he would allow me more than an hour, so I focused on the major part. The painting took only an hour. When my friends came home and saw the painting of their neighbor. They laughed and said that was exactly Rich. I was glad I got him in the sketch.