Galaxy - Roller Coaster Art - Amusement Park Art - Orange County Fair - Contemporary Painting - Colorful Painting

"Galaxy" | 9" x 12" | Oil on panel | ©2015

Available at www.KimVanDerHoek.com

This is the second painting I completed at the Orange County Fair for the Southern California Plein Air Painters event. Like the Ferris wheel painting in my previous post, the view wasn't this colorful because of an overcast sky. I decided to follow a value (black and white) sketch I'd done earlier and take liberties with color to create an exciting piece.

This year I've been learning that as long as my values (how light or dark a color is) are accurate then I am free to paint any color I see fit. In this case I kept the local color of the roller coaster and Galaxy sign true to what was there but, I changed the sky color which was gray in reality. The fence behind the roller coaster I changed to blue instead of a light gray because the gray blended into the sky and it wasn't a color that went well with the rest of the painting. The people were the hardest part for me because they move so fast and I have to admit I am very rusty when it comes to painting the figure (something I need to work on) so, I did my best to capture a few as quickly as I could.

Painting at a place like the Orange County Fair was challenging because of the lack of shade, the throngs of people everywhere and having to lug plein air gear plus my frames through all the chaos however, I really did love painting the colorful rides with all their weird shapes and I'd do it again. Ideally, I'd like to be there painting at night when all the rides are lit up and it isn't so hot but I was told it's a lot more crowded at night so the organizers were reluctant to green light that idea for next year. Too bad, it would have been even more fun.