What To Do When Mother Nature Doesn't Cooperate
There are several factors to consider when planning to be out on the pavement for 3 days. The biggest of these would be the weather conditions. Being that most festivals are in the warmer months I usually count very hot conditions. This weekend, however, I knew it would be raining.
While I was drawing 'Freyja' it began to sprinkle so I covered the painting
with a plastic drop cloth and used duct tape to tape all the edges down
as securely as possible. I placed two boxes of my baby wipes under the
plastic to keep the plastic off the most important parts of the
drawing. This prevents the condensation from collecting under the
plastic.
The next morning, after a night of rain, I arrived to find that the water had completely saturated the drawing underneath the plastic. I removed the plastic to let the image dry out before I could begin painting. Luckily the drawing was not badly damaged, just faded a bit. I had help going over the lines to reinforce them before painting. I had to wait about an hour for it to dry out well enough to start painting Freyja's face.
The festival provided a pop up canopy to protect the painting from any sprinkle throughout the day. Also helped with the sun that kicked in that afternoon. Although it would have helped more If I had stayed within it's shade. My back and arms have a pretty good sunburn now.
After a pretty good day of painting I had a festival volunteer help cover up the painting for the night again. This time we put down large pieces of cardboard over the whole image. Then we duct taped another plastic drop cloth over the whole thing. This seemed to work pretty well, although it rained much less this time. The next morning the plastic was wet but everything underneath was dry.
This worked for a light and short rain. It did not work later on that day when it poured.
We tied plastic to each side of the tent to prevent the rain from blowing in and placed the carboard pieces along the edges. This held out for quite a while until it started to pour and the cardboard became saturated. Soon the cardboard reached it's limit and water began to stream down Freyja's face and her tears of gold turned into a river of swirling color.
There is something quite Zen about watching the painting you slaved over for 3 days wash away in a matter of minutes. I think it is wonderfully freeing to see it disappear forever. Knowing that it only exists in the memory of everyone who saw it. (Well and also in the hundreds of pictures taken to document the event. But it just isn't the same as the real thing.
List of Weather Ready Supplies
Sunblock
Hat
White T-shirt (Long Sleeve if you have it)
Sweatshirt
Umbrella (Large patio umbrella with heavy metal stand)
Pop up Canopy
Cardboard (Mostly to sit on while you paint)
Duct tape (Has always come in handy- rain or shine)
Drop cloth (2 - at least as big as your painting)
Sunglasses
Large Trash Bags (In case you have to get supplies covered up in a hurry)
Tips
If it is going to rain what I like to do is have two drop cloths. I take one drop cloth and duct tape one edge of it along the top of the painting. I then roll the drop cloth up so that it is out of the way but ready to unroll at the drop of, well, rain. I take the second drop cloth and tape it's edge to one of the sides and roll it up just as I did the first. Now I can roll one down and one accross. This makes it easy to work on a small area while it is sprinkling. I can roll one or both out just enough to cover what I have already drawn and still have enough flexibility to move around the painting easily enough.
Lastly - I've found that if you roll the plastic up the bottom side that will lie on your painting gets wet first. Instead, roll the plastic 'UNDER' to keep the underside dry. Now if it starts raining you are ready. Good luck!
