The sun is shining. The sky is blue. What are you going to do? Why paint, of course, or at least go watch lots of plein air artists paint.
Charles Manning works on his under painting.
“See the meadow in the foreground has a lot of grass, that is too much green, so I foreshortened it, brought the trees in the background up closer.”
He starts with a charcoal sketch, and then transfers that idea onto his small canvas. The under painting is in deep brown to establish shapes. Next he’ll begin painting in full color oils.
Manning, a plein air artist from Tallahassee, is standing on Orange Lake Overlook – a high hill with a magnificent view of rolling pastures, palm trees and bushes meandering down to the lake itself.
He is one of 44 plein air artists from all over Florida who have gathered their easels, canvases and paints to capture the Old Florida landscapes of Evinston and McIntosh for the Heart of Florida Paint Out from April 11-18.
On Saturday, April 12, around noon it is windy and quite warm. Charles is wearing a broad-brimmed hat and so am I. It is the fashion that works. Other spectators walking around watching artists work are also wearing hats to ward off the bright sun and carrying cameras to capture the moment.
The Heart of Florida Paintout is amazingly well organized. Painters turn out small and large canvases that immediately go to one of two
“wet rooms”. Spectators can buy wet paintings right off the wall at the new Windmill Gallery at the Orange Lake Overlook or at the second “wet room” at the Wood & Swank General Store down the road in Evinston. The store is also Florida’s oldest post office.
Margaret Watts, a plein air painter from Ocala, worked in a landscape with a palm tree at the overlook Saturday morning then moved to the train depot in Macintosh for an afternoon session of painting.
“A wide variety of people stopped by to watch me work – young families with children, old people, even a woman on a motorcycle who told me she was a painter too.”
Margaret says she gets asked a lot of questions by people who want to know how the whole process works, from sketch to finished painting. She enjoys answering their questions.
So does Mary Jane Volkmann, a Gainesville painter.
“I like talking to people, ” Volkmann said as she planned out a study of flowers in a wheelbarrow in front of a historic McIntosh house.
Volkmann likes plein air painting.
“It is a chance to study color and light right on location. There are all these signs of life and I love natural things, including listening to the birds.”
Spectators like myself are impressed with the easy, outgoing manner of the artists and how quickly they capture the scenes they see. Wouldn’t it be fun to do this? Oh yes. I don’t know how or when that would happen because life is a little nuts lately but it certainly is inspiring. Next year?
Painters will be on site doing their thing at Evinston and McIntosh and the Orange Lake Overlook until Wednesday, April 16. Then on Friday evening April 18 there is a Collector’s Gala from 6-10 p.m. at the Thomas Center in Gainesville. That sounds black tie but it is not. The Gala is free and open to the public. Very casual. Meet the artists, hang out and buy the plein air paintings on a first-come, first-served basis.
There is something magical about being outdoors with an easel, capturing the beauty of the moment.
“I came home at the end of the day tired but it was a good tired,” said Margaret Watts on Saturday evening and she added, “I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.”
What fun!
To know more about the Heart of Florida Paint Out visit their Web site.
Lucy Beebe Tobias is a freelance writer, photographer and artist in Ocala, Florida. She is the Authentic Florida Expert for VISITFLORDA. Her book “50 Great Walks in Florida” is available at www.Lucyworks.com