Busy May – Finding Time to Paint
In May, my day job turned into an every day job. With the refinery in Turnaround, I had a total of two days off for the whole month. I still managed to get some plein air and studio work in.
May 15, 2022: After a 70 hour work week, I decided to get out for a paint to unwind before Monday. After driving around for a bit, my ‘auto-pilot’ took me back to work. I found the reflection of the refinery in the standing water in the excavation for a new storage tank foundation was interesting… I really did.
As I was wrapping up, this goose family popped by to check out my work. I love little ‘squadrons’ of baby geese or ducks, so cute.
May 22, 2022: On my 14th straight day, I cut out a bit early and got some painting in. Nice little spot in the shade of a tree next to the water.
May 27, 2022: After my 19th straight day of work, I popped into the studio and did a few small gouache color studies to try out different compositions based on the plein air study I did a couple weeks back.
This 5×4 on tan vellum was my favorite of the bunch.
Recently, a number of old storage tanks were demolished to make room for a new 175000 BBL storage tank. This view of the refinery will only be available for 6-8 months between the demo and the new tank going up. Here, the viewer is at the bottom of the excavation for the tank foundation seeing the refinery reflected in standing water.
~JW
