Vicksburg

I continued my painting tour of the south this past weekend by going to Vicksburg with Elmore for his kayak race. Since the race was 20 miles (at that distance, I need a lunch break and possibly a nap in the middle), I painted instead of racing.

It's a lovely town with many antebellum houses, and I'd enjoyed being there last year for the same event. A year ago I had only begun to try watercolors, so it was nice to be there with some watercolor momentum going and the wind in my sails.

Above is the Old Courthouse (now a museum), and below is the super cool Mississippi River Commission building.

I attended one of the Episcopal churches there Sunday morning, taking advantage of being out of town and away from my good Presbyterian community of folks to enjoy the beautiful liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. After church I painted the house below.  I was trying to loosen up a bit, but mostly I just got sloppy (esp. with the greens). I think I may have my timing on the watercolors I do just about right. Rushing doesn't seem to improve the situation.

Finally I did one more view of the courthouse. The clouds were gorgeous that day, and I wanted to try, but I really need to get out and do a bunch of cloud studies. I'm just not happy with my skies in watercolor yet.