Chessie Writer Artist

I survived my first Plein Air event

It’s done. As you can see in my recent posts, I’ve started painting again recently after years of having not painted anything but walls of my house. And I rashly decided to sign up for a Plein Air painting event, where nearly 40 artists, many of them professionals, came to our little town to paint for this event. In Plein Air, you paint outside.

We had a kickoff event on Wednesday, then went out to paint around the county on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before hanging our works on Saturday just prior to the reception in the evening, with the general admission event being held today, Sunday.

I managed only two paintings during this time, with much of my painting being done at home in the evenings because I’ve come to realize that I don’t really paint like a Plein Air artist at all. Hours of painting outside yielded frustratingly simplistic results. Most Plein Air artists paint with oils (I use acrylics) and they paint in a more impressionist sort of style, which I can’t seem to achieve.

I came home every evening windblown, tick-bitten and exhausted, but thrilled that we were allowed onto some of the most beautiful properties in the area to paint. And I’ve met many incredibly nice people, including the professional artists who were very kind and supportive.

The man running the event told my friend Kathy and I that we could also hang some of our practice Plein Air paintings from the last couple of weeks. Below, Kathy’s works are on the left and mine are on the right:

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Kathy sold one of her beautiful paintings, and a man told her he’d like to use a copy of another of hers for a book he’s writing, and she and her mother were photographed for the local paper. I’m so glad she’s gotten back to painting–she’s a talented artist.

And me? I’m still exhausted and scratching at itchy tick bites, and really glad that I participated in this event–it truly has been an incredible experience. But to tell the truth, I’m looking forward to getting back to my struggle with illustrations for my little story about a cat. Which I will do inside, away from blazing sun, gusting wind and biting insects.

Did I sell any paintings, you ask? No, but that’s OK. There’s always next year.

Maybe.

4 comments

  1. I truly thank my dear friend Melanie for pushing me out of my comfort zone by strongly encouraging me to join this Plein air event with her. I didn’t want to at first and was intimidated because these were real artists doing this sort of thing. Like Melanie, I hadn’t painted in years, but because we hadn’t and we didn’t know what we were doing, we practiced outside before the event. I also started sketching again, doing fun things I wanted to draw, like witches and dragons ( right now that seems fun, who knows next month). It all brought about the desire to be creative again, so I really thank Melanie for her support and encouragement. I think my friend did great work. I love her barns and silos. She has a true creative talent. I was lucky that one of my pictures sold. I think art is truly personal, you never know what’s going to speak to you. It could be just something that reminds you of a time, place, person or emotion. My piece, which was my most challenging because it was the most complex subject matter I attempted so far, must have spoke to someone some how, which is inspiring. I want to take some lessons now too. I really liked painting outside, but it was interesting dealing with certain challenges like wind, dirt, ticks, etc. I sincerely hope Melanie will keep up our painting adventures with me because they are fun, we never know what we are up against out there. Thank you again Melanie for being my dear sweat friend, let’s keep crocheting and painting and hiking and eating, and next maybe welding, weird jewelry, sculpture, who knows. I know, let’s make you tube videos giving local history around the places we can explore, just an idea. I don’t know, but whatever it is, it will be fun:) Sincerely your friend, Kathy

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