La magique du theatre!

What a time we had yesterday!

While Natalie started her class, I waited for the garden sprinklers to subside. A great moment to buy theatre tickets. I only bought two at full price, as I was waiting for the discount rush tickets for the matinee performance of Shakespeare's "Henry V". I was told that I could also get discounts for the evening performance of "Much Ado About Nothing ", so i set my phone alarm for 11:30am and set to work on another water lily painting.

Natalie's class was also seeing "Henry V", but I had no idea where they would sit. My awesome discount ticket was 4th row from the stage, in the left side center, such a superior seat for the price!

I wasn't able to get a photo of the set. I felt too exposed, and didn't feel like getting yelled at.

Neither Natalie or I had seen this play, considered one of Will's masterpieces. Of course Natalie got a little knowledge of it in her class.

Our favorite things was when one of Falstaff's men is hung. Interestingly enough, this was just before intermission, and they left the poor bugger hanging there for quite a long time as the audience left the theatre for a break.

Another very effective moment was the staging of a fleet of Henry's ships sailing to France. By use of a moveable door that angled downward from the back of the stage, the actors, all 45 of them, each carrying  a metal pole with one or two sails on it came up from behing the raised end of the lower bridge/door, and walked downward and off the stage and up the aisles! The effect was of a fleet coming over the horizon, ship after ship! C'est magique.

Shakespeare of course tempered all the killing of the war with comedy, and these seasoned stage actors really know how to bring Shakespeare's literary genius to life.

Natalie was treated to an after stage question and answer session with some of the actors. This stayed in session until just before 6 o'clock, which didn't give us much time to find dinner and return for the 8 o'clock performance of Much Ado, but we managed, and had a fun evening of comedy. I did get a photo of the gorgeous set, but with my camera only.

Back at the B&B, we tumbled into bed, exhausted, but happy.

Water lily day.

I am back at Stratford, Ontario, this time with my granddaughter, Natalie.

She is doing a 5-day acting camp, and I am using this time to paint. She meets her class in front of the festival theatre each morning, and once they were gone, I walked around the gardens to see if there was something that interested me.

I decided to sit on the bench and paint the water lily pond. Those of you that know me and my work, know that I rarely paint flowers of any kind, same goes with gardens. But, I told my husband that I might paint the gardens, and this just seemed so convenient.

I decided to use one of the Rosemary brushes I'd won in the Adirondacks. An Ivory, synthetic, flat about #2? 1/4" wide. And a homemade panel, acrylic primed 8-ply museum board. Had a nice feel to it, and I think I like this brush. Susie, don't choke.  Since I figured this painting was just me 'attempting flowers', I had nothing to lose.

I met the gardeners. The head 'honchette' was very nice, and she checked on me and my painting a few times. I took a break for lunch, but had made up my mind to just stay here until Natalie finished at 4 pm. I wanted to do a close up painting of the yellow lilies. I just might stay here through Friday and see if I can figure it out.

For those that think painting flowers is a breeze, well, not for me. Still, I enjoyed my time today. And, my new Best Brella showed up on Friday and it works so well, and changes angles so easily that, so far, I am rating this umbrella an A+.

Natalie was worn out, and is napping for an hour now. The weather here is fine and gorgeous! And, I am thinking of waking her for dinner.

High Falls



Posing for a photo just after I finished painting.

When Margie, Susie and I arrived at the bottom of the steps, Margie decided to paint in the deep shade, which later became a problem for her, as she couldn't see her colors. Susie had an umbrella, I had a broken one, and after just falling, it was hard to bend to get my equipment out of the bag at my feet. I didn't have the fortitude or time to fool with it, and thought I might just hold it, but once into the painting, I forgot and it lay beside me, half open, the whole time.

Finally the other painters descended on this spot, and Eric Rhoads said, "Your sitting in the bright sun." He was right, but it didn't seem to matter. Marilyn sat beside me on the bench and Jill sat on the platform, and is taking this photo of me.

I have just downloaded my camera of photos from the Adirondacks last week. Most everything shot at 5M, whew!

My painting sitting on the easel at High Falls last week.

debrajoycedawson@earthlink.net sent you a video: "Adirondack Mountain Painters"

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debrajoycedawson@earthlink.net has shared a video with you on YouTube: Check out this video, by Sarah Yeoman, of this year's Adirondack Mountain Painters. You'll see Eric Rhoads doing a portrait of Maria Amor, and just after that I am painting at sunset on the same porch. Susie and Margie are also on that porch painting. Adirondack Mountain Painters 50 artists painting the Adirondacks June 19-24.
© 2012 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

Shameless 'Halo Effect' Marketing!

Standing on the deck at Camp Limberlost with Publisher, B. Eric Rhoads. This is what he called getting the halo effect: getting in a photo with someone important, or famous. I'd say he's both.

You know what Eric means. After all, didn't some of us in Columbus, Ohio try to get into a photo with Arnold Scwartzenegger and Sly Stallone??? Some wanted it more than others, but everyone posted it. Great marketing!

Thanks to Bridgette Turner who took this photo. She took several until she got a good one of me. Eric always looks good.

27 Dresses Series #6: "Blowin' in the Wind"

"Blowin' in the Wind" 10 x 8" Oil on RayMar oil primed linen.
SOLD     Copyright 2012 Debra Joyce Dawson

This is the second of 5 paintings I did on the streets of Annapolis, MD, this one on April 20.

A little technical stuff here: #1. Why try oil-primed linen? Me, I don't often paint on linen, but so many artist's rave about it, that I decided to buy a 10 pack of oil-primed linen panels from RayMar, maybe 2 years ago. It's expensive, and of course one wants to save it for a great painting, still one never knows when that GREAT painting will come along. I still have 4 of the original linen panels left, and I took 3 of those to the Paint the Adirondacks event to make better friends with them.

"Green Rain" (posted November 1, 2011)

was also painted on oil-primed linen.



#2. The feel of oil-primed linen: the paint glides across the surface, and if you aren't careful, it will lift right off as well. That's why I was able to work a long time on "Green Rain", push and pull, lift and change that paint on that surface, until I found the statement I could live with. But I found that in 'Green Rain', there is very little paint on the surface, with most of the texture being the texture of the linen itself. For one like me, who likes paint texture, I knew I'd have to work on figuring it out. Students often ask me to show them how to lay down wet oil paint over wet oil paint, and it is all about the amount of paint on your brush or knife, and how much pressure you apply it with. This oil-primed linen factors in more slickness in the process. And frankly, I am not sure if what I purchased was the single or the double prime, or what the difference in feel that might have!!!!
#3. Toning the surface: I almost always tone the surface I am working on for two reasons:
      a. I use no medium in my plein air work, so using a little OMS mixed with paint, then wiping it down gives the surface a little less drag factor, not a lot, but some - and this is especially important if I am doing a palette knife painting.
     b. I also tone to get rid of the glaring white surface, hard on these aging eyes. And if you are painting something that is white (and we all know white has color, right?), white always sings best applied over something that is darker.
     The oil-primed linen has a slight greyish tone, so no glaring white. But I have still toned it, not realizing how slick it already was. NEXT TIME, I'll change things up and not tone the surface, to see what happens.
#4. What I did in 'Blowin' in the Wind': I toned the surface with Transparent Oxide Red mixed with a little OMS, and wiped the surface with a VIVA paper towel. While I waited for some of the OMS to evaporate, I did my little thumbnail sketch. I started the painting by blocking in my darks by barely breathing the slightly thinned transparent paint onto the surface, which is really easy to do on this oil-prime.
#5. Photographing this painting: I'll admit, I am the world's worst at taking photos of my work. Heavens forbid I ever want to make a book. However, this painting was really hard to photograph. There is a natural kind of sheen to this surface, so glare is hard to deal with, even though I took the photos after the painting had dried and with no varnish. It seems you can see right through the thin layer of darks, back to the layer of the oxide red tone. I know that all my darks were applied thinly and are transparent paints to start with, but the camera seemed to heighten the separation in those layers more than I could see with the naked eye. Oh that camera's eye! It picks up all of the texture, and glare of the sheen and lightened the entire image. It was maddening! Photoshop Elements, here I come.

#6. Making corrections: I made one or two small corrections to this painting when I got it ready for my current exhibition at Sharon Weiss Gallery. The paint glided onto the surface easily and without fuss, and I don't think anyone viewing it would know where the corrections were made. (This photo is before the corrections were made.)
All in all, I haven't used this surface often enough to know if I will go the extra expense to keep it in my painting bag of tricks. However, I did just order another 10 panels. This surface certainly worked out well for "Blowin' in the Wind". I didn't find myself 'thinking' about the surface, fighting or struggling with it. I do like to experiment with a variety of surfaces, whether drawing or painting, but I hate that feeling of fighting a surface, like a fish struggling to go upstream. In this painting, I went with the flow, and was happy with the result.

Epilogue: I had two instances in the Adirondacks where I was fighting the surface, one was on a RayMar panel I'd bought years ago, the medium canvas surface. This is the surface that I hate, way too much drag of me, and I wound up putting an extra coat of prime on these panels and sanding them to get a resonable surface. Now I buy the RayMar Smooth Canvas and love it.

I had the opposite feeling of NO RESISTANCE AT ALL while using an oil primed linen panel with a Rosemary Ivory brush. Wow! I will post these failed attempts when I get my luggage back today.
Any of you with more experience using linen as your surface, and I would appreciate hearing your experiences with linen with an oil prime, or with another type of prime. And what do you think of Rosemary Brushes? We have been having an ongoing discussion about these brushes this past week in the Adirondacks.

An almost perfect day

Susie, Margie and I went with the group on Friday to Heavenly Hill Farm on Friday morning and wound up staying all day. This morning we were somewhere along the AuSable River, taking our time to get back to the ferry to Burlington.

I didn't post yesterday because I shot all of my photos at 5M resolution. We had an interesting day involving a visit to Rockwell Kent's studio, rain, herding goats, a failed painting, and a great party at Camp Limberlost, owned by Eric Rhoads and his family.

I'll post some photos of Kent's studio, IF, I ever get home from Philadelphia. My 9pm flight was delayed first for maintenance and now waiting for a crew. Estimated departure time, 11pm!

Adirondack round table

I'm sitting here at a round table discussion led by B. Eric Rhoads. I'm surrounded by artists and paintings we've done since Tuesday.

White Pine Camp

Today we spent the day at White Pine Camp, the summer White House 1926, under Calvin Coolidge. Martin and I tried to visit this last year but the gate was closed.

This old camp is now a hotel, $139 per night minimum rate. It was fun painting here. We looked all around this place, but Susie and I decided to paint the entrance gate. My painting is 12 x 10", while the High Falls was 12 x 9".

I forgot to bring bug spray, but was very glad today that I had it. The flies were aggressive. One landed on my palette, and I looked down to see it and it had red eyes, red circles with red centers, a demon fly for sure.

My painting is not quite finished in this photo, but I like the photo.

High Falls

This photo is taken indoors, and the light is yellowish, so this painting, even in limited color range doesn't show the gorgeous subtlety of colors. But all I can say is, I painted this just after falling, and it was my reward.

We came back from the falls tired and late, had showers and went to the cafeteria for dinner. We all went to the bar. I'd been taking Aleve for pain, but I thought some alcohol could help as well. It was quiet at first and I sat talking to Roger Rossi, on the Board of the Salmagundi Club.

In walked Rick Wilson, from Indiana, and the night turned into a sing-song. A great deal of fun, and excellent prelude to Ireland.

I hope that the photo posts vertically. Enjoy, this is a special painting!

Adirondacks Paintings

Here's a little art show in our living area. We really lucked out this year and got a suite of rooms with a full kitchen and sitting area. Air conditioning, too! And we couldn't be happier about that since it has been hot.

In this photo are 4 paintings of mine, and 3 by Susie. Margie's are in her room, and she is napping right now.

Top left is my very crappy painting from this afternoon, next it, Susie's painting of High Falls, next her painting from this morning. second row, my High Falls painting, then my painting from this morning, and on the bottom row, our paintings from Osgood Pond.

just because

This photo is of Susie and I. The painting is a studio watercolor by Sarah Yeoman. She painted this from a photo she took last year. In the painting is Susie, myself, and my sherpa Martin.

The second photo is of a natural planter. I am sending my sherpa on an expedition to retreve this lichen covered boulder with many lovely ferns, not too, too far from he falls where I fell.

High Falls Park

I see my photo from this mornings painting spot didn't post. So trying this one from our afternoon spot.

I painted 12 x 9 inches at the falls. I thought I'd taken a photo of the painting on the easel with the tablet, but I am mistaken. I took it with my camera. I'll work on getting that photo. My paintings no too bad, considering it the second painting of a waterfall I've done in my life, both here in the Adirondacks.

We went early to this site, and things were fine until at the very bottom, I fell and hit my right side ribs on my easel. It knocked the wind out of me, but eventually I got set up - even though I was right out in the full sun. 88 degrees today and sunny.

I'm pretty sore. Thanks to Margie for carrying my easel uphill.

Back on Osgood Pond

Adirondack Adventure: day 2

Up at 5:21am this morning. We have decided to not go to The Vic Center this morning. Both painting groups are going there. Then they break up and one group is going to High Falls Park. I didn't go to this spot last year because every time a waterfall was mentioned, slipping and falling and blood was mentioned. However, last night we made a plan to go to Osgood pond and then to the falls and spend most of the day there.

The photo shows me wearing the bug net that was in our tote bag.

At the raffle last night . . . my roommates and I . . . all won prizes. First Susie: a travel watercolor set, brush and pens and a little case. Next, I won a set of 6 brushes by Rosemary's Brushes (estimated value $100) ! Then Margie won a large wooden palette.

We're here!

We meandered our way to Paul Smiths College, stopping for about 45 minutes to an hour to take photos.

All in all with all our stops, it took us 3 hours to get once we drove off the ferry.

The weather right now has gone grey. I've been told that Susie travels with rain, but Everyone is saying the temps tomorrow will be in the 90's.

We walked into the check-in, and there was Eric Rhoads, and three children, working the check-in desk, and very efficiently. We were given a Plein Air Magazine tote bag, green this year. I love the green.

We were given some free samples of Williamsburg paint!!!

And, Joe, from Rosemary's Brushes is here with brushes for sale.

We settled into our suite of rooms. VERY nice, and we have a kitchen as well.

Dinner is at 5:30pm, so I'll sign off for now, and write later, if I have the energy or inclination.

Ausable Chasm

Lunch in Saranac Lake

Back on the  road to Paul Smiths College after stopping for lunch. Nicoise salad, and just phoptos of dessert, but I could go for an ice cream. Temps is 75 right now, with sun and 88 F tomorrow. Looks like better painting weather than last year.

Paint the Adirondack Adventure: day 1

On the road again.
Yesterday started off with a bit of stress: running a little late to the airport, an easy check-in, cash from the ATM, he bathroom, then disaster! I had lost my drivers license somewhere between the check-in and getting my stuff together to go through security. Panic time! But the license was found, in my stuff and all was well.

I am traveling with Susie and Margie. We all flew into Burlington, VT, had a nice meal at The Ice House, right on Lake Champlain, and took the ferry this morning to NY. It's a super beautiful day today. :)

27 Dresses Series #5: Flirty Dress

"Flirty Dress" 7" x 5", Oil on Canvas Panel • SOLD

"Flirty Dress" revealed itself to me on April 19, in Annapolis, Maryland. I didn't know I'd find her. I was on my way to paint a red and white striped number I'd seen the night before. I walked into town from Graul's Market with my backpack, easel, panels and pizza box carrier, and my Plein Air Magazine tote - given to all the participants of the 1st Annual 'Paint the Adinrondacks', you all remember who organized that, right?

The day was sunny, and very warm, and it was a stimulating walk to arrive at State Circle. Years ago, while a student in landscape painting class with Richard Nieworth, I stood in a quite spot on this circle and painted. The wind blew my palette over onto the brick sidewalk, and I was sure bells and whistles would go off, and that the Historical Society would arrive on the scene at any moment. No one knew this happened but me, and I did my best to wipe up the red, yellow, white globs of paint, which resulted in smears!

So from that time on, whenever I was in Annapolis, I'd check to see if my paint was still on those bricks. This was back in the late 1970's! I didn't find my marks this year, but that isn't a bad record for Utrecht oil paint!!!!

I walked around the circle half way, and took a narrow pedestrian street that would cut through to the harbor/market area. Nice, interesting old houses, and at the end, a small shop called "VIVO". And, "Voila!", there she was, such a cute dress with spectacular color and shape, and the wall of the shop behind was a WOOZER color! I loved the black mannequin, 'a first' since I've started to paint this series. Still, the red and white was just around the corner, and it was still calling me. I'd have a look before deciding to paint. Like magic, it had disappeared. Good for me, as that dress was on a busy street with sidewalk cafe tables and lunchers!

I backtracked to this side street and

observed this dress from another angle.

You can just see the Annapolis State House dome in the distance to the left of this quirky, but very paintable, house; and in the right foreground,
the VIVO shop and Flirty Dress to the right.

I liked this view, too. I sat down all my equipment and dug out my sketchbook to make a couple compositional sketches, so important! (the drawings are in the previous post). I then reached for my tripod, which I'd left in the car!

Nothing to do now, but figure it out.
I sat on a 5" curb, and straddled a gutter with running water.

Notice that one handle of my trash bag is clipped to my pants leg!

This was rough, but there was no choice.
I wasn't going anywhere without that painting of Flirty Dress.

Behind me was  . . .

In front of me (besides a messy garbage bin) was . . .

my backpack with a small 6x8" magnetic easel propped on top. The good news was I had shade the entire time, very few visitors, and a subject before me that made it all worth while.

6th Solo Exhibition

I bought a Motorola Zyboard tablet last December, and I am writing to you from this tablet now. Of course, I am not a true tekky, so I am not sure what all I could be doing with it. One thing I do know is that it's hard to update my blog from this device, but easy to blog going through email. The only thing I don't like about that is not being able to position or size my photo before posting it.

My photo shows a page from the sketch book I was using in April when I was in Maryland. My daughter lives in Annapolis now, and while she worked and my granddaughter was at school, I loaded up with my backpack, panels and easel and walked into the town center. I was working each day and one night on paintings for my "27 Dresses Series". Here are four thumbnails for paintings that are on the wall of my current exhibition at the Sharon Weiss Gallery in Columbus, OH.

Two of the sketches are of the same dress. I titled that painting "Flirty Dress". It was so cute, and made of paper. The painting is just 5"x7", and I did a great job capturing it, under trying circumstances. (to be continued)

Randy Higbee, King of Frames!

Here they are, four big boxes of frames for my June exhibition, fresh from The King himself (no, Elvis left the building some time ago - or did he?)

FedX Ground delivered them just when Randy said they would! Whew!

I haven't had time yet today to get into these boxes. But I am SO longing to see. And a hugest thank you of all time to The King of Frame and his staff!

Check it out: http:/www.kingofframe.com

Debra Joyce Dawson Exhibition Opening June 1st

You're invited!

 
DEBRA JOYCE DAWSON
'painting the looser side of realism'

'Beyond Repair', 10" x 7-1/4" Oil

 Artist's Reception: Friday, June 1, 6 - 9 pm

Gallery Hop: Saturday, June 2, 7-10 PM

THE SHARON WEISS GALLERY PRESENTS

Dawson's 6th Solo Exhibition, featuring recent plein air and studio
works from Ohio, the Adirondacks and Cuba,
with a selection of works
from her new "27 Dresses" series.



"Blue Crinoline", 10" x 8", Oil

This year, Debra was commissioned by the Ohio Arts Council to create the artworks for the 2012 Governor's Awards for the Arts; won a place in the August 'Art in the Open Plein Air Competition' in Wexford, Ireland; and was juried into the '2012 Plein Air Rockies'. Debra is teaching color and plein air workshops around the USA.

20 E. Lincoln Street, Columbus, OH 43215 614-291-5683

Hours: Thurs., Noon - 4:00 PM; Fri. & Sat., Noon - 5:00 PM Sun., 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
www.sharonweissgallery.com
www.debrajoycedawson.com



Plein Air Convention: Part 9 - B. Eric Rhoads, Marketing Genius!



B. Eric Rhodes standing on stage at the opening of each morning.

As Olive Oil would say, "What a man, what a man!"

Yes, Eric is quite a guy! I've certainly never met anyone like him before. Entrepreneur, Radio Man, Magazine Guru, Marketing Genius and Mastermind of the Publisher's Invitational 'Paint the Adirondacks, and then, the 1st Annual Plein Air Convention. Just a few things in his long resume that prove he really is a marketing genius.

He has ideas, and 'people' that make his ideas come to fruition. Not a bad place to be.

And I have to say, that even while the Convention was going on, he was still adding things to the program. For instance, he flew in a woman from England to translate for the 'Russian Master' - before and while he was painting.

And one of the things he added along the way of planning a phenomenal Convention was his 'Early Bird Marketing Boot Camp'. This took place each morning starting at 6:30 AM. Need I say the house was packed? Coffee was served along with breakfast!

Here's what he started with: Get more galleries, change your thinking patterns, and you must work harder than you ever have in your life. Next, Eric went on to tell the story of how during the Great Depression of 1929, Post Cereal, the #1 Brand in their market, stopped advertising. Kellogg's was a small business at that time, but they started to advertise, and by 1933 Kellogg's became the #1 Brand in that market.

What did Eric do? In the midst of this recession that we have been having, he re-launched Plein Air Magazine!

What did he tell us to do?

Go see other artist's paint, those that are at he top of their game.
Learn about marketing.
Meet People - for camaraderie and marketing.
Travel.
Paint - and learn something new to teach.


Artist case in point: Henry Darger


The above link is to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from 2008. It talks about Henry's life as a menial hospital worker, and his reclusive life, and the amazing work that was discovered just before he died at the age of 81.

What's the point? no one knew Henry was creating scads of art! He never made a penny, but now his work is in museums and sells for at least $80,000 a piece!
 


Click here to see more images.

 PEARLS OF WISDOM:  

• There is no romance in being a starving artist, or in thinking that an artist is not a business person.
• There is nothing evil, wrong, or manipulative in marketing.

Now, here's where you start :
WRITE YOUR OWN OBITUARY, up to today!

Governor's Awards for the Arts

So, here I am for the big photo session!  What a buzz there is in the air.

In this photo is Ken Emmerick and Barbara S. Robinson from Cleveland. Ms. Robinson is receiving the Irma S. Lazarus Award.

Roller Coaster of Art

The painting below has nothing to do with this post.
I just figured I put in a piece of art since I was blogging.

"Fountain Study" 12" x 9" Oil on RayMar Panel
Debra Joyce Dawson copywrite 2012
At the Eisele Gallery in Cincinnati

Now for the real meat of the story.

The email subject line said, "Congratulations!"

I was accepted into the 2012 Plein Air Rockies Event, taking place in mid-August. I quickly wrote back thanking them. Then, I happily delivered the news to my husband, Martin, and my mind starting racing to the logistics of how, when, where, $$$$.

I looked up the dates, and to my horror, they conflict with my painting and vacation time in Ireland. DRATS! DRATS! DRATS!

I have just sent another email, this time confessing that I would not be available to attend, and begged them not to blacklist me!

I am very bummed indeed. Meeting the artists from around the country is part of what doing this is all about. I would have reconnected with Sterling Hoffman (I met him at the Door Co. Plein Air Festival), Thom Robinson - outstanding artists from Indiana, Oil Painters of America Master, Jeff Legg - and missing out on meeting all the other artists that I've never met. My consolation, of course, would be just knowing that I did get accepted! Maybe for tonight that is enough, especially since I thought I didn't get in at all. The notices were to arrive on April 30th, and when I didn't hear, I assumed I didn't get it.

Plein Air Convention: Part 8 - The Irish Connection

Which two look Irish?

Okay folks, back to the Plein Air Convention.

As you know, I won a competition to stay in a luxury resort hotel, plus my heafty entry fee paid, to go to Ireland and take part in the Art in the Open Competition, taking place later this summer in County Wexford.


Well, on my first day in Vegas, after seeing the Monet exhibition at the Bellagio, I headed for the Red Rock Resort and Casino to register for the convention. I navigated my way through a labyrinth of slots, restaurants and shops, and followed the signs to "convention center". Who was behind the check in desk, but my friend Cinnamon Rossman, the woman that started the Door County Plein Air Festival. She is now working for Plein Air Magazine.

We had a hug and a very short chat, and I checked in. I got the name tag, a raffle form, and a Plein Air Magazine bag filled with the program, marketing literature (which included a card for the September Ohio Plein Air Competition), and some free art goodies like acrylic, oil and water soluable oil paint, view finders, and linen painting panels from suppliers.


Steve Doherty opening the Plein Air Convention.

Then, I stood talking to early birds at the T-shirt/hat stall, and as I looked around, I spotted Steve Doherty, renowned editor, first of American Aritst, and now with Plein Air Magazine.
We spoke briefly, and then across the crowded room,
I spied two tee shirts sporting the

logo.

I said to myself, "These women have been to this competition!" So, I headed straight for them, only to find that they were actually the gals that had started the plein air group in the Southeast of Ireland. And they started the competition, now in its 5th year, and drawing artists from the US and several European countries. I gathered a lot of info from Louise, including the fact that commeraderie and partying in Ireland was going to be just as important as painting!!!

Here he is the King of Frames, shaking hands with Michael Godfrey.

I spent the next 2-1/2 hours chatting and laughing with Jayne and Louise (who are flanking Becky Joy in the first photo), and meeting and greeting artist friends like Ulrich Gleiter, Shelby Keeff, Debra Grosser, Marc Hanson, and feeling the excitement as some of the big name presentors came in:  Clyde Aspevig, Ken Auster, Matt Smith.
Then' low and behold, I saw my friend and past student, Susie King, crossing the room. "I yelled out her name, and we had a unexpected but joyful reunion. Susie checked in and joined the party.

New friend, Peggy Turk from California, and of course, Scott Christensen.

I'd had a long day of travel the previous day, and not enough sleep, and well, after about 2-1/2 hours of talking and laughing, I was starting to fade. Susie, went to her room to freshen up, but we decided to meet for dinner. She called me, and I couldn't hear above the din, so I walked myself and my phone out into the landing area, as I was walking in one direction, Scott Christensen was coming in the other. With cell phone to my ear, I yelled out, "Scott Christensen!" as I reached out to shake his hand. He actually stopped in his tracks as I'm sure my tone of voice sounded like he was supposed to know me and that we hadn't seen each other in such a long time." Crazy, I shook his hand and kept on walking. Hey, I was talking to my people!