What a great event! And what a neat place to paint. I got there on Sunday, June 17 after a really loooong drive from Cincinnati, checked in to the Brazier Gallery where the very well organized staff and volunteers stamped canvases, found me beer and introduced me to some other artists I'd be staying with at Evelynton Plantation (more on that later!). Looking around the gallery at the excellent art by some of those same artists, pre-event jitters set in. I thought, maybe I oughta just sneak back to Cinci... But instead I found my friend and fellow Cincinnati Art Club member Larry Rudolech out painting under a railroad trestle and we made plans to paint together the next day.
The first morning was grey and drizzly and the appointed painting locale was Belle Isle in the James River. It would have been a good place if the weather had been better, but I managed one piece, Reflecting on Richmond a 12" square pastel, before it started to rain too much to stay there.
During my lunch break it poured and I wondered about the afternoon, but never fear, the plein air gods (whoever they may be) were in control and the sun broke through for a glorious end to the day. I walked along the canal walk, a fascinating pedestrian path alongside the old shipping canal that is no longer used. With bridges and tunnels over, around and through the old buildings it is an adventure and a journey back in time. At each end is an old lock and as it turns out I painted them both. The first was the east end:
Just Water Under the Bridge is 14" x 11", pastel on panel. Wandering back, I found Larry painting the other side of this bridge and figured I could do another painting while he was working. Larry works FAST, so I didn't have much time. My last painting of the day was A Slice of Light painted in front of a sidewalk cafe next to the turning basin.
Sure enough, Larry was finished in about 45 minutes, so that meant I was too. The manager of the cafe came over to see what I was doing and invited us in for a beer--a great finish to the first day.
