Laurel Hill Cemetery

 Today the boys and I ventured into the city to Laurel Hill Cemetery to paint. It was a scorcher! I think this was by far the hottest day I have been out painting so far this summer and the humidity today was clam bake! Aaron Thompson go into the city before Will Sentman and I who car pooled together. We found Aaron who had already done a painting and decided to stop as the light had changed too much. So we all drove around to find another spot to paint. Laurel Hill is just incredibly beautiful and there are probably hundreds of spots and view to paint...fantastic victorian sculptures and tombs, graves of every description from the 1800's into the 1900's. Its kind of overwhelming in that way, but search we did until we found a nice spot higher up in the cemetery. Aaron broke off and kept searching but we caught up later on.

 Will and I found a nice spot looking up the hill. I loved the cool darker shadows going back into the raking light. The sun was in and out all day but when it was out it cut great shapes through the trees and graves.

 You can see here the view Will and I had and our paintings under way.

 I worked on a 12 x 12 canvas this time as I think it's hard to mess up a composition on a square.

 But once we passed solar noon the shadows started to shift too much so i had to stop, besides I was really getting beat by the heat, even in the shade. So I stopped the painting and when i got home I added some finishes to it.

                                              Laurel Hill Cemetery, 12 x 12 OIL on canvas

 Will had a great moody almost Dickinson-like painting going. But we called it a day and went to Dick Blick and spent a LOT of money--well I did, I needed to stock up on a lot of supplies since I have been doing so much painting--which I plan to do again tomorrow!