Plein Air Experience

Well, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of the Plein Air festival and felt good work came from soul to canvas over the two days of painting. Yesterday was 88F and it was the record for the hottest day for that day of the year and I felt every degree of it! By the time I got my paintings turned in, I was feeling tired but once I came home and showered I felt much better. At about 6:50pm I drove to the Tannery for the Awards Ceremony which began at 7:00pm.

My type of painting was different from that of almost EVERYONE else that was participating in the Plein Air event (which means mine were "unique" which should count for something?). Obviously, they were desiring of realistic, landscape type work and that's not the way I paint. My work was placed at floor level or not at eye level and was about the only paintings that weren't spotlighted (I guess because they were so low) so I was a little disappointed in the placement of my work. They may as well have placed my paintings outside the room and down at the end of the hall. Not only that, those that won the awards were largely (but not all) part of the group that have studio's at the Tannery or are already friends of those who are at the Tannery and one of the organizers of the event won an award which didn't feel right to me (she also has a studio at the Tannery). Also, there was only ONE judge. Oh well, live and learn. It was not about the awards for me, although some recognition is always nice but it was a delightful experience and I enjoyed being with the other artists. I'd do it again but next time, I'm skipping the awards event because there is obviously bias involved but perhaps that's just the way it is regardless. I've found there's not a lot in life that is "fair" because we're all humans, after all. I will just participate for the experience next time with no further expectations and then I won't be disappointed.

It's sunny and hot already at 11:08am and I just finished making breakfast for two of my grandchildren and my neice. Sunday's are lazy days and we got started late so I guess they are really having brunch. I have a lot to do today to catch up (house AND yard work) so I'm keeping it short this morning. Next week, I'll get back to work on my cards and start planning for the Arts and Jazz Festival on May 9th. I'm going to have a booth there, too.

So ends my first "paint out" and it was fun!

Namaste.