I was lucky enough to be one of thirty artists selected to participate in the second annual Mountain Maryland Plein Air event in Cumberland, under the auspices of the Allegany Arts Council. It was a wonderful week: gorgeous scenery, friendly and hospitable people, excellent event organization, (mostly) great weather, and the opportunity to meet and paint with some truly remarkable artists. I completed 4 paintings the first day (what was I thinking?) and then was so pooped I was able to do only one the next day. I did make a stab at a second, in the afternoon, but got caught in a rainstorm, and by the time it cleared up, I realized I was just too &%$# tired. This was my first plein air event, and I realized that 1) painting outdoors once a week in a leisurely, all-the-time-in-the-world sort of way does NOT prepare you for the gotta-have-two-paintings-that-don’t-suck-by-Friday frenzy of a timed event; and 2) I’m not in my 20s (or 30s or 40s) anymore. But it was really a lot of fun, and I may even consider entering more of these events, once my feet stop aching. My sincerest thanks go out to Kelly Moran and Andy Vick and all the wonderful staff of the Allegany Arts Council and the Saville Gallery, who worked so hard to pull this off; to juror Lee Boynton for selecting a nicely eclectic group of artists to participate; and to the welcoming people of Allegany County who made the event memorable for me, including Henry Maier and his wife Nancy, who invited us up to paint from his property (I wish I’d had more time!!); the other folks who stopped to chat the first morning on Murley Branch Road and to suggest other great views to paint; the wonderful folks at the Stone Age Café in Flintstone, who also pointed me to some great scenery; and Ron in the red pick-up, who invited me to Forsythia Lane to paint from his hillside and gave me some great photographs of local scenes several decades ago.

We weren’t certain we’d be able to paint this day, since the weather forecast was calling for thunderstorms and a 30% chance of rain. But Clark’s Farm is just so peaceful and beautiful, I really wanted to try. I figured that a 30% chance of showers meant we had a 70% chance of not getting rained on, and luck turned out to be on our side. The day was a bit overcast, so there were no strong shadow shapes to build a composition on, but that also meant the light was less likely to change on you. There were three of us – me and Brenda up at the house and Nancy somewhere down the back drive – and I set up overlooking the cow pastures and pond. The cows and cats were very interested in what we were doing and kindly posed for our photographs. I completed a 9x12 and managed to stay firmly on the “less is more” side of the painting equation…of course, it helps you stay loose when you’re not certain how much time you might have before you’re caught in a downpour! I’ll post the painting here once I photograph it in a week or two.

This morning we made our first painting trip to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, south of here, off Powder Mill Road, and it was well worth the trip. There are two lakes and a causeway between them, along with blooming flowers and a still-under-construction wetlands environment and boardwalk that will have wonderful possibilities once they’re completed and a bit more mature. The staff was extraordinarily nice and helpful, happy to point out some of the best places for views. On this first visit, though, we did not get much further than the causeway: the views there of the lake were wonderful, and the three of us (me, Barbara, and Brenda) set up there, taking care to stay in the shade and out of the way of the passenger tram. (Note for next time: Don’t forget the sun umbrella!) I did a small (8x10) piece on Richeson board (“Shoreline”) and am happy with it: I am trying hard to focus on shapes and the underlying abstract design, especially in these smaller pieces, rather than become overly concerned with detail (a bad habit).  

May 15

This was our first trip this year to the Living Farm Heritage Museum in Howard County, and it was spectacular. There are easily a year’s worth of paintings there. The one spot where Brenda, Kay, and I set up had multiple excellent possibilities no matter which way we turned. The weather was once again amazing: sunny and not too warm, although a stiff breeze and frequent gusts threatened more than once to take our paintings into the next county. As usual, our hosts stopped by to see how we were doing and to suggest some additional painting spots for future sessions. Altogether, it’s one of my very favorite places for plein air. I’m quite happy with the painting I did that morning: I’ll post it as soon as I photograph it.

 

I joined Matt at the DC Metro Plein Air Painters Art MeetUp at Carderock this afternoon. As it turns out, there were only the two of us, but it’s always nice to have good company and to meet new artists who like to paint outdoors. It had been overcast all day, and the late afternoon weather did not really improve much, but it was good practice for me, trying to develop an acceptable image when the light is bland and the values are all very close. I did not really succeed: the painting (notice I do not post it here!) has some adequate bits but is mainly middle values and therefore not really successful. I may play with it some and see whether it can be rescued. The climb down to the river with my gear was quite an adventure, and the return trip even more interesting, so I feel like I ought to salvage the painting to have something to show for all that effort!

Again this year we spent our second session at Brookside Gardens, and again the weather was delightful. Kay, Elaine, Maria, and I all arrived about 10 am and wandered about a good bit ooo’ing and ahh’ing at the gorgeous flowers before finding Barbara already set up and painting at the Japanese Tea House. It looked so nice that we all joined her there, including Mary, who arrived a bit later. We focused on different views across the ponds, and actually enjoyed the chaotic invasions of elementary school kids who were very excited to discover turtles and barn swallows just below the decking. This time I worked on a small piece of PastelMat, a new pastel paper from the French firm Clairefontaine, sold through Dakota Art Pastels (see

http://www.dakotapastels.com/pages/paper-pastelmat.aspx ). Every time I try this paper I like it better! I’ve posted my work, “Turtle Pond” here.

This was our inaugural painting session for 2010, and if this day was any indication of the sort of weather we’ll be having this year, then my only two words are “Woo” and “Hoo!” As is our custom, we started the year at the Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens. It was a beautiful morning, not too cool, breezy, sweet-smelling. The light was perfect, the azaleas were blooming, and the view across the reservoir was breath-taking. There were quite a lot of people strolling the paths, and there were four of us painters there – me, Kay, Elaine, and Mary. We all congregated at the same spot, where you can see the long view of the reservoir out beyond the azaleas – it looked almost Mediterranean. I did a small 8x10 on PastelBord (“Brighton View”) trying to capture that feel. We also spoke to two other artists who stopped to see what we were up to: I hope Roberta and Melinda can come paint with us one of these times. Stay tuned: we’ve got a whole 6 months of plein air to come!

We're going to start the 2010 paint-out season this coming Friday, April 30, at 2:00 PM (note the time!) at the Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens -- looks like weather will be cooperating, a good sign for the coming season (fingers all crossed). Since I'm having trouble posting all the 2010 directions on this site, I've created a new blogspot page that has the full 2010 schedule and directions. We'll also be going a bit farther afield this year, in hopes of enticing some of our more remotely located members to join us. Stay tuned for the results!

This will be my last post to this blog for 2009: our plein air schedule ended on October 31. Unfortunately, the last three sessions of the year - October 17, 23, and 31 – were all cloudy, rainy, nasty days, and we were not able to paint. I did get one more session in, myself, though, before the month was over. I had a piece in a show at the South Street Gallery in Easton, MD, and on October 10 I drove over for the artists’ reception. I stayed overnight to attend a pastel demo given the next afternoon by Colleen Howe (excellent!), and that gave me the morning before the demo to paint. I’d done some reconnoitering the day before (no painting though: once again, cloudy and misty weather made it useless to set up and paint) and I decided to turn out early and head to Claiborne, one of my favorite spots. The light was perfect, the morning cool and crisp, and I was delighted! I set up along the side of the boat launch parking lot and focused on the water, grasses, and small trees. I’ve painted this same scene before, from photographs taken in December, but in early October the light and the vegetation were much warmer, with some splashes of color not present later in the year. The result, posted here, is “Claiborne Morning” – my last plein air piece of 2009, as it turned out. Stay tuned, though: we’ll be back in May!

It seems our luck is improving. This was also a lovely day, and several of us spent the morning painting the more mannered and tamed landscape at Brookside Gardens – we had not been there since early May. It’s a truly beautiful place, but neither of the pieces I’ve done there has been satisfactory; I don’t know whether it’s just coincidence or something prompted by the very manicured appearance of the lawns, ponds, and trees, but on both occasions I’ve gotten bogged down early in too much detail and never managed to recover. Among the things I want to accomplish over the winter is a studio piece derived from those failed studies and from photographs, one that moves decisively away from representation towards abstraction: maybe that will help!