Perfectly Imperfect

This pastel painting was created en plein air under the pier in Avon, Outer Banks, NC, during the heat wave last July, 2019. The wind was whipping at 40mph and the sand was pelting my legs. My hat was tied tightly under my chin and my hair was blowing across my cheeks. The surf was pounding and there was a lot of mist in the air. I had painted in 60MPH at the Plein Air Convention in Santa Fe, so I knew I could persevere and finish my piece. My easel was shaking so badly that my pastel was skipping over the paper and was giving me broken edges on the columns holding up the pier. I worked quickly to capture the glare of the light coming through the pier and the spray coming off the surf. My friend was frustrated and was ready to go so I quickly finished up. When we got back to the beach house, she said, I am going to rework my pastel. I looked at mine and I said "I am not going to touch it." It had a feeling and an energy that captured what I wanted to evoke. The pier had weathered many hurricanes and was not perfect, it was battered, not straight and leaning. I said "it's perfectly imperfect," I knew right then I had titled my piece.