Quick Draw Princess Wins A Prize!

During the 2011 Tampa Bay Chalk Walk & Plein Air Competition, we had some beautiful weather. I was a plein air artist involved. On the second day of the three day event, there was a Quick Draw contest when the artists had only two hours to produce a painting or drawing. I won an Merit Award and cash prize for the effort. Yay!  Below is my quick sketch painting, "Canopies" .

"Canopies"
c. Princess Simpson Rashid
Oil on Board
12x 9"
AVAILABLE

I got this painting done in just under 2 hours flat. Whew! That was a lot of work. I like mostly how it turned out. I think I captured the feeling of the moment. I think if I were to touch the painting again it would be to add a little more detail and color to the figure on the left of the female. I want to add a little more color and flesh out the pants more. ...

What captured me about this scene is the colorful canopies and then the flowers. Finally the women in the green pants to my left was also an attraction in terms of a compositional element. I took this photo reference as I was painting. There was so many people and the crowd kept moving and changing I wanted to have something to refer back later in order to add some figures in the painting. 

I think now I have enough information to paint a larger version of the scene in the studio and take my time. But I tell you, there is something about painting in plein air and quickly capturing the essence of a moment or scene. It is invigorating!

This event was organized by the Tampa Bay Business for Culture & The Arts [link].