I began my plein air painting life in the year 2000, after having some tragedy in my family and feeling very insecure about whatever future time may have been left for me. And so I embarked on a process I believed would fast-track me to becoming an accomplished artist. I joined all the regional art clubs around my home town of Clinton, Connecticut, and began to paint in watercolor. Since I felt I knew everything there was to know about drawing, I thought painting would come natural. Well, it didn't, and I found that out really quick. The art clubs didn't seem to be the venue I needed to gain painting knowledge quickly, so then I had another idea. I would start an outdoor painting group myself and invite "seasoned" artists to paint with me, guiding them free-of-charge to beautiful places to paint around the Connecticut shoreline. I marketed the Club, "P.E.A.T.": People Enjoying Art Together. Between publicity and word-of-mouth, the "Club" blossomed to a dozen or so members and was working out exactly as I had planned. I picked the places, painters came, I set up next to the best ones and picked their brains and watched them paint. I gained first-hand knowledge of paints, brushes, techniques, mediums, venues, shows, and anything you can imagine to do with art we talked about.
Some months after its beginning, a painter suggested we call ourselves the "Shoreline Plein Air Painters," and it stuck. Within a few years we had over 100 painters, a dozen to few dozen at any one location at a time. Lasting lifetime friendships formed, and we traveled together painting in other locations outside of Connecticut. This method of fast-track learning worked like a charm. I learned how to "see," to pay attention to composition and the light, shadows and color, and developed a deep appreciation for those whom I could learn from. To all those folks whose talents and mentorship--and friendship--made an indelible impression on my heart and mind, I will be eternally grateful for the contribution they made towards the joy I experience every time I pick up the brush.
Enough of that sappy dribble, let's get to the meat of the joy of plein air, here and now in Florida.
I abandoned my paintings of gloomy gray days, snow in the meadow, and falling leaves on the ground, after moving to my beautiful Florida in 2005. Snow and autumn leaves don't sell down here, as they remind those who have left that world how much they hated all that shoveling and raking.
Here on the Treasure Coast of Florida, near my Sebastian home, there are many opportunities throughout the year to paint with other artists outdoors. For those of you locals, I will list below a few:
- Lori McNamara runs the Plein Air Painters of the Treasure Coast - lorartbus@aol.com , who meet on Tuesdays (I think) in the morning - check on time, not sure. They paint from Vero Beach to Port St. Lucy and sometimes beyond.
- Lee G. Smith runs the Plein Air Painters of the Treasure Coast-North, which covers a northern route mostly from Vero Beach to Micco and beyond. leegsmith@comcast.net
- The Cultural Council of Indian river County holds plein air events a couple of times a year www.cultural-council.org .
- The Vero Beach Art Club www.verobeachartclub.org holds plein air events occasionally,
- The Sebastian River Art Club www.sebastianriverartclub.org also holds plein air events occasionally.
- info@artsbrevard.org in Brevard County can steer you to plein air events
- The Brevard Art Students League holds weekly plein air outings at very interesting places during season. Contact Brett Pigon at bpigon@bellsouth.net
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| Ann Emery, painting in oil |
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| Christine Thomas, painting in Acrylic. My unfinished painting is in foreground |
For a plein air painters such as myself, Florida has been a blessing in that one can paint year-round, as long as you come prepared for the heat in the summer. So many animal, floral and plant spcies to paint, I'll never get to do it all.
Keep on painting!
Regards,
Judy Burgarella
Blogger for the Arts
