Plein Air Fest: The Good

Art Boot Camp!







Last week my Mom and I attended a Plein Air Fest, we had so much fun on this art-venture--the best part was spending the week together. We really enjoyed meeting other artists and seeing their phenomenal artworks!

For this Plein Air Fest, we had an intense art-filled daily schedule, hence the "Art Boot Camp", it was tough! Each morning we would grab coffee and our art supplies and drive out to the painting location. The venue had a suggested painting location for each day. Once we had our coffee, we would drive to the location, look for a place to paint, and then get to painting! The hard part was that we had to stop painting by 3PM each day so that we could frame our wet paint works, this was tough as often we would just be getting in the groove. I have decided that framing is not my friend, the first day it took me 35 minutes to add the brackets, and drill in loops and wire the back wiring. Needless to say, we were cutting it close to the 5 pm deadline. What Mom and I loved, was each evening we could see the artworks of the day, and vote for People's Choice, visiting with artists and event organizers.


The Schedule:
7 AM: Pack Art Supplies, pack cooler & lunch, grab coffee (wish we were morning people, ideally should have been up and out at 6 AM)
730 AM: Drive to location (sometimes determine paint location)
8 AM: Set up pochade/easel, layout paints
830 AM-3PM: Paint
2-3PM: Pack Up easel and paintings
330-430PM: Frame Wet Paint Works
430-5PM: Shower/refresh
5PM: Attend People's Choice Reception at Conference Center, see all artworks created that day!
7PM: Dinner/snack, wash brushes, clean palette for next day. Determine canvas for next day.

Mom's Day 1 Train Depot Painting

The Good:
Luggage
My luggage (with paint, pochade, tripod, and paint clothes) made it to the baggage claim! A good start.
Early Check In/Canvas Stamp
Mom and I made it to the early check in on Sunday afternoon. This was important as at this venue we were able to get all of our canvases stamped early. We each had about 12 canvases stamped (this way we would not have to stop or get canvases stamped before plein air paint outs each day).
Art Supplies

My painting Day 1, Lady in Red

We each had packed the supplies we would need, this was good as there was no place in town to get replacements
13 paintings in 4 days
Mom painted six paintings, I painted seven, all in the four-day time span. Wow! We are really proud that we met the deadline each day to turn in wet paintings (framed), this was a challenge!
Cooperative Weather
It was supposed to rain each day, but we got lucky, the sun was out most days, it only rained at 1230 on the last day
Meeting Other Artists
It was great at the end of each day to see the works produced by all of the artists, there was so much talent in the room, amazing!
Margaritas
Our first night, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant, and we ordered the small margarita, which was not so small. We rather enjoyed these margaritas and enjoyed them again the next evening after painting.

Special Thanks to my Mom! Mom took time off to be with me this week, and she was up for the rigorous Art Boot Camp schedule (up early, work, abed late). It was a great experience and I loved the company!