Spring can really hang you up the most *

I mentioned last time the anticipation of plein air season; when spring is bursting out, demanding to be painted, and when the various paint-outs and festivals appear on the calendar. When T.S. Elliot wrote, 'April is the cruelest month...' , I'm sure he wasn't thinking about the overlapping schedules and date conflicts of plein air events, but he may well have, as far as I'm concerned. Back to back festivals, traveling, teaching in between: it's just a lot to plan for and there's so many unknowns (weather, supply issues, travel plans, lodging and meal arrangements, let alone just hoping to paint well, and hoping to sell some paintings....and all the time hoping also to relax and enjoy the time spent outdoors and mingling with other artists.   Some years ago, the U.S. Secretary of Defense said, in regards to military actions.....you have your 'known unknowns' and then you have your 'unknown unknowns'.  Sounds a bit awkward, but makes sense; even for  everyday things in life, including Plein Air festivals.  In the upcoming weeks I'll plan to share some plein air festival stories with you., the good, the bad, and the....unknown.

We had a great still life workshop last weekend, and thanks to all who attended.  My Monday class is already underway and is quite a talented group, and my next Saturday plein air class begins April 14th, so I hope you'll consider joining in on this always fun and worthwhile class. 

Another item....!  For those local plein air painters.....the buzz is growing for the 1st annual Marietta Plein Air Festival , (march 31-April 1, with pre-reception on March 30). It's sponsored by the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art, and is open to all artists.  Not only will they be allowing painting all around the historic areas of the city, but in addition , many private estates will be opening their properties up for the artists to paint.  Please see the museum website  (listed on the sidebar) for event registration, and feel free to contact them with any questions.  Yours truly, along with the excellent local artist, Nikki Davidson, will be co-judging this event.  Should be a great time.  

I visited the Booth Western Art museum (in nearby Cartersville) yesterday, with a few artist friends. We caught the traveling exhibit of the Plein Air Painters of America, (paintings of the national parks). I was familiar with most of the artists' work, but it's always best to see the works in person; magazine photos or website images just can't capture the subtle effects of color mixing and texture you can see in person.  About 100 paintings in all, it appeared that about half were studio works implicitly painted from plein air studies.  All in all, it was very inspirational, and it's always nice to see a museum featuring truly skillful and beautiful artwork. Especially in the same week where I read about a 'work of art' being delivered to the Los Angeles County Art Museum,  the 'artwork' being a 230 ton boulder, under which will be built a series of trenches for the public to be able to observe......the underside of a boulder (!?)  I understand the name of the work is 'Levitating Mass'. 

Best wishes!

*1955/Lyrics Fran Landesman/Music Tommy Wolf