The day my Peaks and Valleys show started at Marmalade Library, I decided to reward myself with a nice evening plein air painting. I grabbed my gear and headed toward a historic sign near my house, but the building is being converted to condos and the sign had been taken down. I hope they will put it back up when they are done - it's a favorite sign of mine in Sugarhouse.

I ended up in a great spot I had scoped before - the front lawn of the Sugarhouse post office (zip 84105), looking south toward a 1920s falling-down garage with the cityscape in the background. The post office closes at 6pm, and is federal property, so I was able to get started quickly when I arrived just after 6. There were so many people around. I'm always amazed that the busier the area you paint in, the less likely it is that someone will come by and ask you what you are doing and want to talk about painting. I did meet a great gentleman named Dominick and we talked for a few minutes about painting.

There were so many gnats in that spot, and a few of them stayed in the final painting. I could only pick out so many without having to repaint the spots where the gnats were stuck. It was about 90 degrees with the slightest breeze. I really prefer to be in full sun (and have my palette and panel in full sun) so that I am able to match the colors well.

Here's to a great evening painting! Don't forget to see the show at Marmalade Library until July 20th. Please contact me if you'd like to purchase one of the paintings from the show.