Plein Air Painting Paradise!

Be sure to view my new time-lapse video "Oil Painting of Bob Barbour by Judy Burgarella" at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcLf7ACVaJk&feature=youtu.be


Note: - The below painting was finished a week after the plein air session.  "Tiki Bar" was purchased off the easel while I painted it on Day 2.  Below is the finished painting.

"Tiki Bar" oil, painted on-site

APRIL 17-18-19, 2013 - PLEIN AIR PAINTING
IN FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA

TO BENEFIT THE A.E. BACKUS HOUSE

DAY 1

After coming off four days of plein air painting, I am artistically renewed.  Nothing feels more like being an artist than painting a beautiful scene outdoors--in the fresh air with the sun at your back--with other artists.  And to top the days off partying with so many interesting and talented people is the ultimate experience for any artist. 

It was especially enhanced by being with my Vero Beach Mural buddies, Dawn Mill and Christine Thomas (www.verobeachmural.blogspot.com), and Sue Dinenno who moderated the mural's video.  We chatted, joked and ate together for three days, in between zoning out on our painting sessions.   Although there were many frustrated sighs and grunts with the struggle of wind, bugs, tired feet and backs and sunburn, which is also part of the "plein air" experience, we persevered and got some good work done.   In spite of all the challenges, much of the work we saw on display at the end of the day was stunning, and drove us to reach for new plein air heights.

Although I myself had cut my artistic teeth doing plein air painting, having founded and run the "Shoreline Plein Air Painters" in Connecticut from 2000 to 2005 and run their shows, excursions, etc., I found this event to have been run beautifully, and mostly by volunteers.  It went somewhat like this:

• 30 painters were "invited" to participate in the "Downtown Fort Pierce Plein air Paintout" at the A.E. Backus House in Fort Pierce, Florida, and sent the required paperwork in.  There was no charge for the event.
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided.
• Artists were required to frame their finished paintings on-site, and bring them to the Backus House for display and sale when each was completed.
• Commission was 60/40
• Day 1 finished with a dinner party for the artists, Day 2 finished up with an opening reception for the public, and day 3 finished up also with a reception for the public, at the end of which we all took our unsold paintings home.

As for day 4, that was a completely unrelated plein air session which was at the Sebastian River Art Club, which I shall cover later.

Day 1 - After driving to White City Park, at the suggestion of Laurie McNamara who is a very renowned plein air painter and head of the Plein Air Painters of the Treasure Coast, Christine and I decided it was not the place for us--too dark and shady.  So we turned around and drove to Fort Pierce Inlet Park, where perhaps we could hook up with Dawn Mill and Sue Dinenno.  We scouted out several places, then ended up at the inlet shore with Sue and Dawn.  It was a lovely, warm soft-winded day, and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around scouting for the best view there.  On my way I came across this big fellow, who didn't seem too startled to see me, although when I bent down to take a closer look after snapping this picture, he retreated into his shell.  Just another thing to enhance the experience.

Gopher turtle munching on grass at Ft. Pierce Inleet Park

After strolling around the beaches and sand dunes for about half an hour, I settled on this delightful little tropical view, and began to set up my gear.  In setting up my easel I discovered that a vital piece of it was missing, so I was without an easel--and in plein air I need an easel as I stand and move around quite a bit while painting.  Well, I was anxious to start painting, so when I spotted a grill near the site I decided to use it as my easel, which worked out quite nicely for a while, sans the grease and soot. 

After painting a couple of hours the sun began to shine on my newfound "easel," and I had to find another spot.  On a whim, I took the half-finished painting and hung it on the palm tree that I had painted in the picture, wedging the space between the canvas and stretcher bars atop one of the dead fronds on the trunk.  Worked wonderfully: nice shade, stable stand, perfectly perpendicular to my point of view.  By 2:30 I was finished, and moseyed over to the pavillion Dawn and Christine had been painting in.  Sue Dinenno had left by then, being stricken with the remnants of a very bad virus which kept her from the evening parties each night.

Scene I picked to paint on Day #1 at the Ft. Pierce Inlet Park

Pictured are my improvised easels - grill and tree trunk!

"Fort Pierce Inlet View, Florida" unfinished oil painting

 This painting was pure delight to do, especially with having to improvise, which made me feel even more creative and resourceful.  Wish it were possible to bottle all those endorphins dancing around my psyche when I'm painting--curing aches and pains, depression and worry, fear and anxiety; and leaving happiness, peace, joy and a renewed love of nature in its wake.  Trouble is, at the end of many hours of standing, bending and squinting, I pack up and hobble back to my car like an old lady--tired, sore and spent.  But I leave with the wonderful memory of the day lingering in my mind long after it's over.

As I was wrapping up my painting session, this little cardinal was flitting all around me, and even at one time landing on a bright red car to peer at himself in the rear-view mirror.  It looked as if he was challenging the bird in the mirror to a dual of beaks!  I clicked off about a dozen or so shots of him, one better than the other, as if he knew he was posing for a painting!  He surely will end up on one of my canvases.

Friendly cardinal at Ft. Pierce Inlet Park

Christine had moved under the pavillion because of the no-see-ums, so I brought my packed-up gear there and just chatted and traded barbs with them, fed the squirrels, critiqued their work, stretched out on a bench, and just made a pest of myself to them both till it was time to go.  They had some nice little paintings to hang at the show that night.

We stopped at Art Mundo where Christine has a studio gallery, had a glass of wine and changed our clothes and cleaned ourselves up as best we could for the Opening Reception that night.  It drew a nice crowd, and we had fun and lively conversations with several of the artists, and basked in the loveliness of the newly-painted work on the racks.

DAY 2

Tiki Bar on the Indian River Lagoon, my subject on Day #2

 On day #2 we were confined to paint within several blocks in Downtown Ft. Pierce, and for about an hour Christine and I walked around trying to find just the right spot.  I mainly look for: 1-shade, 2-not interfering with traffic either walking or driving, 3-safety, 4-view.  Unfortunately Christine picked a view in the sun and got burned, and it was so close to people that the smoking bothered her. 

I positioned myself on one of the few small grassy areas, in partial shade, with a nice view as shown above.  It was complicated though with many angles and perspective problems, along with shifting sunlight and shadows.  However it was also a delight to paint, and I hadn't gone very far when the owner of the Tiki Bar came out and said she was going to buy it, finished sight unseen, price unknown, frame unknown.  I was delighted!  But now the pressure was on to produce a painting I'd be proud of.  Several of even the better painters refused to hang their finished work as they felt it below their normal quality. 

At mid-afternoon top plein air painter Charles Dickinson came by and set up his "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" gear and did a delightful painting of me.  It was such a sweet painting that I wanted it for myself and told him that I just may have to buy it.  (At $300 for a 5"x7" which I later found out, it was out of my budget--but surely worth it for this caliber of artist).

At the end of the day I notified the Backus House of the sale of the Tiki Bar painting, and they had already known about it.  I will finish the work at home within the next few days.

DAY 3

Day three found all of us very tired.  Getting home late each night after all day in the sun and wind and eye strain had taken its toll.  It seemed a simple solution to just paint on the Backus grounds, near the food, water and toilets.  This decision ended up being the best decision for Day 3, as an intense wind was our companion all day, and a great deluge topped our painting time off.  Those who chose to be near the water's edge were whipped, tired and discouraged with the surprising weather, and had their day's joy cut short.  We four, and a couple more, toughed it out on the lovely grounds of the Backus House, and I painted two delightful hibiscus paintings.  This cute little 5"x7" modeled for me right on my easel after plucking it off a nearby bush.  Wished I had a silver frame for it, but had a nice black one which looked ok.

"Pink Hibiscus at the Backus House" 5"x7" oil painting, framed in black

 After bungying my easel to the paintbox and just painting a very small piece, I was good to go in any wind.  The pink hibiscus took only a couple of hours to paint, so I went a-lookin' for another.  This time I wanted red or yellow to go into a beautiful wide gold frame I had in the car.  So I took off for a stroll around the block and was delighted at the interesting-looking houses, gardens and fences in the neighborhood.  Looked as if the place was in the middle of a renaissance.  I talked with a fellow who said "sure" when I asked if I could take a picture of the yellow flowers on his tree, think it was a golden chain.  Walked a little further and found Ellen Fisher, renowned local painter, who was just laying in color on a delightful 10"x12" oil of an interesting cut of a white house (she told me later she had wiped it off, dissatisfied with its progress).  That is something I just can't do, as every "dog" painting I've done over the years seems to have some redeeming quality.  Time to stop that and just fess up that they are failures, doomed to lay on a shelf for another few years.  Seasoned, professional, successful artists have the courage and decisiveness to do that.

So on I strolled, still looking for that "perfect" flower.  Ran into dear friend Yana (Adrianna) Bitter who was trying to hold onto her hat and her easel in a fierce wind.  She had a lovely street scene in the final stages and was ready to call it a day after fighting the elements.  So I moved on to walk one more block . . . and there it was!  The perfect red hibiscus!  A fellow was mowing his lawn and I waited to get his attention.  When I asked if I could pick a red hibiscus for a painting he said sure, and I also asked for a stem with leaves, which I proceed to massacre the rest of the plant for, stripping a whole branch and peppering his new-mowed lawn with broken leaves and twigs, and coming away with a pitiful-looking branch with three tattered leaves on it.  Anyway, here's the painting which I created in the very back of the Backus to shield myself from the progressing violent wind (pictured below the hibiscus).  I did start it in the courtyard, but the wind was so bad I feared a branch would break off and knock me into the next world.

"Red Hibiscus" 5"x7" oil painting

"Red Hibiscus" oil painting created in back alley of the Backus House, away from the wind

 The last day, Day #3 (Friday April 19th), culminated in the final reception, which started out as a disaster with the wind and rain whipping the front courtyard like a wind-tunnel.  Too dangerous for the band and guests for part of the evening, and the public stayed away in droves, but began trickling in when the weather settled down, about 6:00. The hors d'eouvres as usual were spectacular, with everyone wanting the recipes.  Pam, who seemed to be the organizer of this event, couldn't be more helpful and friendly, along with all her volunteers.  Pam's mother was such a delight, and cooked many of the recipes we loved.  She generously gave me the recipe of the corn flake cookies, which I hope I can remember.

Had some wonderful conversations, lots of laughs, and traded painting stories, ideas and tips with many artists.  Great fun, and very rejuvinating in the life of an artist.  Everyone loved this venue, we were treated very special, and things ran as smoothly as possible.

DAY 4 - SEBASTIAN RIVER ART CLUB PLEIN AIR PAINTING
(www.sebastianriverartclub.blogspot.com)

Now onto day #4, which had nothing to do with the Backus.  As part of the County-wide "Celebrate the Arts" 10-day long event sponsored by the Cultural Council of Indian River County, we at the Sebastian River Art Club decided to make plein air a part of our agenda since it would be free and easy and we all love plein air painting.  Trouble was that nobody showed up to paint except for myself, Ann Emery and my friend Christine Thomas who had been painting with me for the last three days.  There may have been poor participation because of the threatening weather, however the rain and the sun stayed away from our already-burned bodies, and we had a wonderful painting session.  What a great day, and I have a little jewel of a painting almost finished.  Just needs a couple more hours and I'll have one more delightful day captured on canvas.  I'm hooked--plein air is my crack cocaine.  And how could you experience what I did in the picture below if you were just painting in your cluttered ol' studio???

Muscogee duck at the Sebastian River Art Club, Park grounds

Christine, Bob (my hubby) and I topped the day off with pizza and wine back at the house, and I don't know why I am now spending all this time typing when I should be sleeping.  I'm thinking that maybe it's because I am still so high on painting that this itch needs scratching.  Perhaps someone will read this and jump in and try painting and make their lives happier, or at least more bearable.

Anyhow, if you've read this long diatribe I hope it inspires you to pick up the brush, or take a painting class (www.artclasses-burgarella.blogspot.com), or buy an art book, or subscribe to an art magazine, or go to the library and get busy, or just click onto the next blog and you just may find another artist whose work inspires you.  Just don't sit there ... get busy and work at being happy.

CARP DIEM!

Judy Burgarella
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