Waiting for the Crowds Oil on Linen Growing up in Ontario, I always looked forward to the fall fair. Toronto has hosted North America's largest agricultural fair for decades and every year we would go on a school field trip. The fair was enormous and there were literally thousands of animals, along with all other sorts of fare, including everyone's favorite “The Worlds Largest Pumpkin”. I approached the Lee County fair with this in mind. I would paint animals, blue ribbon preserves, or perhaps Alabama's largest pumpkin. Alas, a small county fair in Alabama, however, is different than North America's largest agricultural fair. The one building that held all the displays was locked and the animals weren't going to arrive until the fair opened at 5:00 pm. What actually was there were the rides and foods booths that were all eerily quite, with the crowds many hours away. Just a few of the carnival workers were around working on the rides. I started to look about for something to paint. There was certainly no lack of color! The first thing I considered was the Candy Apple booth which I instantly dismissed as impossible for the amount of lavish detail and complexity. I walked about for approximately twenty minutes and always came back to the Candy Apple booth. It was taunting me. A voice in my head kept saying “It's impossible, do it”. So I set up and got to it. It was a hot sunny day. Every now and then a carnival worker would come and talk and take a look at what I was doing. They all had character that needs to be explored in another painting. By the time I finished, all I could see was “hot pink” every time I blinked, but I got the painting done. |
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