My second plein air event: very enjoyable. The weather was still hot, but it remained sunny all weekend, and I got four paintings done (one of which, however, I subsequently brushed down and painted over). At 7am the first morning my friend Maria and I started out in the parking lot of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, with the kind permission of Father Matt. There are a lot of great views from up there, and I chose the one looking over and across Main Street to the hills opposite the church. From there we went down to the intersection of Ellicott Mills Rd and Main Street and painted in the shade of the trees in front of the Thomas Isaac log cabin. I focused on the church across the street, but that was not a successful painting. I do like the view of this church, though, sitting up on its hill, so I may try this again some morning later this fall. After a short break for lunch, Maria and I met up again in Parking Lot D, where there were quite a lot of other painters at work already. We chose a spot on the sidewalk of the little bridge that leads into the parking lot and painted the houses perched way up above Main Street on top of the rocky outcroppings. I finished up at 6pm, but Maria, who seems to have boundless energy, was still there painting when I left: she told me the next day she’d been there till 8pm. Golly.
We made another early start on Sunday, meeting up at Parking Lot A (the Oella lot) at 7am. I planted myself on the sidewalk looking west back into town and painted the railroad bridge and the buildings along the north side of Main Street. This was the spot where I had the most visits from curious passers-by, and I gave out almost all my cards for the plein air show which would be hung on Monday at the Howard County Center for the Arts. Maria chose a spot to my right, in the little garden bordering Oella Avenue, and the piece she did there won an award! (Yay, Maria!)
Most of the 30 artists juried in to this event turned in multiple paintings, and the work is really extraordinary. It’s a beautiful show, especially, I think, because there’s such homogeneity to it, given that everyone was working within the limits of a relatively small town with its own special character. The show is up through October 15, and you really should go see it if you’re in Ellicott City!
