Stormy portrait session at Old Town Artists

First of all, I'm excited because I made my first little painting at my new studio space with Old Town Artists.  The thistles come from the pasture in Hugo where my horse lives; they are huge, lovely, prickly and fragrant.

 Glass with Wild Thistles by Tracie Thompson. Oil on canvas, 10 x 8".

Last night was full of lightning, a pounding deluge of rain that was worthy of my native southern Florida, some hail, and the obligatory tornado watch.  As a result, only seven artists came out for the portrait session (last week we had thirteen), but we had a lot of fun once we got there.

Don Biehn was back, and created the study above. My tripod couldn't match the height of his easel, thus the perspective distortion in this photo; I like this piece a lot.

Nels Femrite was there, too, keeping the rest of us entertained with his wit while he created the above piece, about 32" wide.  Nels doesn't have anything online for me to link, but perhaps eventually I'll be able to talk him into joining mnartists.org.  For free.