Final Georgia Painting Day

It was the final day of plein air painting in Georgia, but you can bet there will be many more posts about the experience.

We met at a large conference center, and although it was on the water, the first thing that stood out to me was this perfect and magnificent magnolia tree.
We had to choose the morning’s painting subjects quickly, so I just chose this scene of the water, the marsh, and a distant bridge. I didn’t really love the scene but it was close, and I wanted to start painting, not walk all over the place choosing. Okay, honestly I did want to walk all over the place, but knew this was my last chance to soak up Laurel’s teaching.
Somebody standing near me chose the same scene, and I listened as Laurel helped her figure out what to put in and what to leave out. Then I just follow the same instructions.
The start was rough, as usual.
I think the reason I wasn’t very thrilled was because I found the colors kind of doll.
Maybe that’s why I went a little overly bright on the sky.
We had our critiquing session (and this time I’ve managed to keep a Laurel in a vertical position.)
Good enough. I was ready to try something else, and there were many beautiful things to choose from on the conference center grounds. But, the rest will have to wait because I have to leave for the airport at 4:30 in the morning. This is the equivalent of 1:30 AM at home. Oh boy.

Two in One Day

We painted today on a huge private estate that belongs to heirs of the Reynolds family, which was fabulous. It was also kind of muggy, but we were brave plein air warriors.

This time we were on our own to choose painting sites, one in the morning and a second site in the afternoon. Laurel patrolled, offering help throughout the day.

No one roughs it here.
I stood under this pergola to paint. Shade was a requirement.
This scene was my task.
In progress (maybe I will show you the ugly steps down the road but not tonight)
Oh no, she fell over again while critiquing my painting,
  • The finished painting
  • My next choice

Now what have I done to my blog?? Sigh.

The beginning
Here is the finished painting, I am too tired to continue with this one finger typing and bloggery misbehavior.

Both of these paintings were rectangular, not square, but I am quite inept at blogging on this little device–the normal controls aren’t showing up.

Tomorrow is the third and final day so we will continue next week.

Long Day Learning

We began the day with sketching exercises, walking around the grounds of a former plantation turned state park.

Teacher Laurel demonstrated a step at a time, and then we copied those steps. She is a very thorough explainer.

She was actually standing upright, but I messed something up here.
Rough start but we had confidence in our highly accomplished instructor.
My beginning
Almost my end but now it is drying on top of my friend’s fridge, so we’ll wait for the final photo later.
My middle picture is out of order – usual excuse.

Then I went sightseeing!

Dadgum device flipped the picture again so I ‘ll quit now.

Locked out in Georgia

Travel is full of challenges. The current one is having locked myself out of my friend’s house. This gives me the opportunity to try posting to my blog from a small handheld device that I am reluctantly learning to use.

Pretty place, eh?
I went walking downtown and I am loving the architecture and landscaping.
I’m sitting beneath this massive oak tree with moss hanging from the branches. It’s a nice place to wait.
This is the high school. I think my friend said it is the fifth oldest school in the entire country.
This building is not sideways. It is my ineptness with new technology.
It seems to me that there is a church on every other corner here. It also seems that there is a siren every hour. Maybe this is normal for a city.
There are so many new wildflowers to learn!

A Summer Place in Winter

Today I am in route to Florida, unable to post, so here is something that happened on Saturday. Mineral King is a summer place, but occasionally we visit in winter. (I probably won’t be able to post tomorrow either, so we’ll just have to bravely soldier on for a bit.)

The flowers were fantabulous along the lower portion of the road, but we didn’t stop for photos except at the bridge. It takes a long time to pull the Trackster up the road with the Botmobile, and it takes a long time to putt-putt up the road in the Trackster, so we did not lollygag.

The Trackster ride is rough, loud and smelly. But, it beats a snowmobile, particularly when you have to go up and over downed trees or across dry pavement. (You know the ride is rough when it makes the Botmobile feel luxurious by contrast.)

Our friends were already up the hill, and it was great fun to surprise them. Trail Guy and I did a bit of token cross-country skiing. Mostly we were just in awe of the vast winterness of the place.

Cute little snow buggy called a Trackster, made by Cushman. The goal is to drive as far up as possible and unload in a place that can accommodate a turn-around.
I didn’t photograph any of the trees we had to crawl over. It was nerve-wracking, and several times I just bailed out of the Trackster and climbed over on foot.
First view of Sawtooth
First view of our friends
They dug steps down to their cabin door.
The classic view
This is our cabin from the front.
Timber Gap in the background
You can see how deep the snow is on the bridge.
I love this view at the top of Endurance Grade. This was looking backward as we headed back down.
On the way down, we stopped for the most brilliant redbud we have ever seen. It is just below the most dangerous curve on the road, AKA Steven’s corner, because our friend Steven drove over the edge there as a teenager. His worst injury was poison oak!

Fixin’ To Go

Happy Birthday, Mamacita!

Leaving for a trip involves lots of preparations. Whether or not there are specific deadlines, there is a need to finish things. This is mostly due to not knowing what else will be stacked up when I return.

Besides, if I am learning to paint plein air, maybe I’d better finish all my working-from-photos-in-the-studio paintings because what if I hate them all when I get home?

These paintings have been varnished and are drying.
These paintings are all that remain to be finished in the big goal of 32 new paintings.
These are actually finished now, but I didn’t photograph them in their final state for you.
Scout is waiting for me and I am waiting for our grandkitties.
This one is finished now, and very very wet. Will I hate it when I return because I will be completely sold out to plein air painting?

SCOUT HAD 3 LITTLE TABBIES and 2 GINGERS! THEY ARRIVED ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 5. 2 TABBIES HAVE TAILS, THE REST DO NOT.

This is the small stash of some supplies I for the workshop. The rest have been ordered and now I need to learn to pack them correctly. We have been also instructed to bring a few photos in case it rains so we can paint indoors. See? Studio painting is okay! Take that, you Plein Air Snobs (one of which I hope to NOT become)

To top it off, I discovered that I thought I had mailed 5 Mineral King Wildflowers: Common Names but I didn’t actually send them. What a goof. I am sorry, and you know who you all are because I emailed you and then sent you your delayed orders.

And, FINALLY, my business phone is working again. I wonder how many missed calls; there was no voice mail the past 4 weeks, so I’ll never know. The number remains the same as the previous 17 years. (It is on my contact page.)

I might need a secretary. Or a nap. Or some calming knitting.

Story Concluded

I read about St. Simons Island, love the beach, learned that an artist needs to paint plein air, “met” an artist who teaches plein air on St. Simons Island, and met a real person who lives there.

Poppies at the Beach, pencil and colored pencil, private collection.

The real person invited me to stay with her and her family at their home by St. Simons Island.

So, I am going next week. Flying to Jacksonville, Florida, driving to Brunswick, Georgia to stay with my friend’s cousins, meeting Laurel Daniel in person, and joining a three day class on St. Simons Island to learn to paint plein air.

This is Uh-May-Zing. Truly.

Normally I NEVER say that I am going away before I go, because this is the World Wide Web. This time is different. Trail Guy will be home with Scout when she produces our grandkitties and is taking that duty very seriously.

Who knows what sort of stories I will tell you next week? Time will tell if I will be able to post to my blog in real time the experience of being on St. Simons Island, meeting Laurel, learning to paint plein air. If I go silent next week, just figure that I am completely in the moment.

More Story

So far we have learned that I love to read, love the beach, and have wondered if it was possible or necessary to learn to paint plein air.

I have a virtual friend (is that what it is called when you are in touch with someone you have never met in person?) named Laurel Daniel who paints very well. She paints plein air and she teaches a few plein air workshops every year. She even gave me a list of tips and helps when I had to do some public plein air painting 4 years ago. It helped, but didn’t make me feel any more confident or competent. (One painting session does not make an expert.)

Remember that I loved some books by Eugenia Price based on St. Simons Island? That is one place where Laurel teaches. When I learned this, I was gobsmacked by a great desire to attend her workshop there. This probably doesn’t surprise you.

How about this for a surprise? Last summer I was with a childhood friend at her family cabin, and we visited her cousins at their neighboring cabin. Her cousin lives by St. Simons Island! Again, I was gobsmacked.

Beach Birds, pencil, sold
(This drawing is not St. Simons Island.)

Tomorrow I’ll tell you a little bit more.

A Story, Continued

In yesterday’s story beginning, we learned that I liked the beach and reading. Where are we going with all this?

I also loved to draw and figured that when I grew up, I’d live at the beach and be an artist who painted. Instead, I live near and sometimes in the mountains, and I used to only draw. I also paint now, but this has never felt as good as drawing. Doesn’t matter, because I can learn to paint better.

When I began painting, a painter I admire a lot told me that although he is a studio painter, it is very important to learn to paint “plein air”. This means to paint on location rather than from photos. I thought, “Ick, no thanks”. I may have said that very thing, and he responded that it really helps an artist develop skill.

That was in March of 2006, and I did try plein air painting on four occasions. It was much harder than I imagined. I didn’t enjoy the experience (such terrible incompetence on public display) and the results did not please me. I had to do a lot of work in the painting studio afterward to turn them into paintings that I was willing to sign.

Painting plein air in Mineral King in 2007
Painting on location in Three Rivers in 2011.
Painting outside in Three Rivers in 2015.

Why am I telling you all this? Come back tomorrow.

A Story

When I was a kid I loved to read (and still do). My mom took us to the Ivanhoe library, where I worked through the kids fiction section until there was nothing left that interested me. Eventually I realized that some of Mom’s books might be good, and I read a couple of historical novels based on St. Simons Island off of Georgia. Of course I wanted to go there.

As a family, we spent time at both the beach and the mountains (we lived in the Central Valley of California, so both were accessible), but I tended to like the beach best. Now I am torn between mountains and beach, fated to live forever between both.

The Beach House, private collection

Why am I telling you this? To be continued. . .