Black Butte Ranch Paint Competition

First thing i notice when i walk up was, “Wow these people are way older than me” and “Holy crap they’re really good!”

What exactly am I talking about? I entered a live painting competition, and yesterday was the day we competed. Mostly I was doing it for the exposure and the fun, but yeah, I’m competitive, so signing up for this was a no-brainer. It was hosted at Black Butte Ranch near Sisters, Oregon. The artists were a group called the Plein Air Painters of Oregon, which I recently joined.

We each came with a blank canvas and had roughly three hours to start and finish (including frame) our painting. Any size canvas, and anywhere on the ranch. Pretty much a free for all. You know your own limits…

I was debating about sizing, because i don’t normally time myself painting. I eventually decided on a 9x12, figuring that’s the biggest canvas I could comfortably do in 3 hours. My medium is watercolor; It’s what I’m used to and I’ve done Plein Air watercolors enough to be used to how it acts outside.

Live watercolor painting in Oregon at black butte lodge ranch — This is the size I picked! Only used about half of my paper.

The scene was beautiful, and I was blown away! It was cool to see so many other artists painting a similar scene (but each with their own unique touch). There was about 20 other artists. I only saw 2 other watercolor artists…I also saw oils, acrylics and pastels.

My husband and some friends came to watch and support, and a bunch of people who lived on the property came and talked with me, which was fun. Some people were worried that they would distract me, but i told them I need the practice to paint and talk at the same time, since I’m getting into Live Wedding Painting. Lol

The painting went very smoothly! I was happy with how it was turning out the entire time!

Plein air painting at black butte lodge live wedding painting sisters Oregon

At 5 o’clock, with one hour to go, I had a few minutes of panic wondering if i wouldn’t finish in time, but honestly I had nothing to worry about…it was a breeze to finish in time. My hubby and I ran to our vehicle, i quickly framed the finished painting, and ran back to display it for the voting.

Here’s me with my framed painting…

…and I won nothing!

So as you see right up there, me by my framed painting, I didn’t win anything. :( I was a little disappointed, but honestly there was so much talent there…I’ll just have to do better next time! I had a lot of fun and it was gorgeous…no complaints there!

We even went on a camping trip for the weekend by the beautiful mountains. So I’ll say that was a win!

Here’s a couple more photos from the day! Comment if you have questions and thanks so much for reading!!