Monday, March 30, 2015

Spring Park plein air


What: FCPS plein air
Where: Spring Park, Green Cove Springs
When: April 4, 2015, 9 AM to 1 PM


Back in the fall of 2011 the First Coast Pastel Society was just a gleam in Lyn Asselta's eye. In fact we didn't even have that name in mind yet at the time, but Lyn held a meeting at her home and tried to invite as many folks as she could reach out to to see if there was enough interest to form a pastel society for this area. There was a lot of enthusiasm so she decided to go ahead. That very next month, in November of 2011, we decided to have a plein air paint-out.


The venue chosen was Spring Park in Green Cove Springs, and we had about a dozen enthusiastic pastelists show up and paint. It was a wonderful day, and such a lovely place to paint that it seemed high time to go back there again now that we are formally a society with many more members.

Spring Park lies on the banks of the St. Johns River, on the east side of US 17 as it goes through the heart of Green Cove Springs. If you click on the link above you will see it lies between Walnut St. and Spring St.


The park has wonderful  water views, with a fishing pier that goes far out over the river. Sometimes interesting boats are docked at the far end of the pier. There are covered picnic areas and a large gazebo (which we took advantage of our first time there when it began to drizzle). There is a small brook leading from the iconic spring down to the river. There are lots of trees.


In short, there are all sorts of wonderful potential subjects for plein air. Not to mention two rest rooms!


Lots of birds too if you want to capture some wildlife in your paintings.  Below is the painting done that day by our own Richard Lundgren - as fantastic an artist then as he is now. :-)


The park is in the heard of downtown Green Cove, so there are also interesting historic buildings nearby that could be your subjects as well.

And if you need a pick-me-up or would rather have pizza (or other Italian food) for lunch rather than a picnic - well Spring Park Coffee and D'Fontana's Italian Restaurant are both on Ferris St., an easy walk.

NOTE: There is some destruction/construction going on at the park on the Walnut Street side, but the park is still open. However better to park in the lot by the playground on the Spring St. side, or at the end of Spring St. down by the picnic area along the river. 

Friday, March 27, 2015

Cindy's demo session


(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour)

March was a tough month for some members of the First Coast Pastel Society, and a number of us were laid low with bad colds and various illnesses. Fortunately there were enough healthy members to provide a warm and attentive audience for our presentation.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour) 

The presentation was by our own award-winning Cindy Pierson, who is an amazing portrait artist.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour) 

Our own Debbie Fox was chosen to be the model for the demonstration. Great job Debbie on having the patience to sit for this demo.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour)


(photo courtesy of Kay Deuben)

(photo courtesy of Pat Mahoney)

President Lyn Asselta was unable to be with us but sent these words to us all: 
I want to say a great big thank you to all of you who helped make our last meeting a great success even though so many of us were away or unable to attend! You guys are great!! Although I was able to sort of keep track of what was going on from afar, I knew everything was in good hands!

(photo courtesy of Cindy Pierson)

Cindy later shared with our group the finished portrait of Debbie. What a fantastic likeness, and what a beautiful portrait. 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

A wonderful portrait demo - Bring an Artist friend to the meeting!


What: March general meeting
Where: the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach
When: Saturday, March 7, 10 AM to 12 noon

Most of you know our own Cindy Pierson, one of out faithful members and attendees. But are all of you familiar with her marvelous portrait work? If you attend our Saturday meeting you will be! Cindy had graciously agreed to be our demo artist for our upcoming meeting.

You may not also know that Cindy was recently accepted as an Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America based on her wonderful portraits. 

Many of you remember Casey Klahn from the workshop he did for us last year, and he's instantly recognizable about in the portrait Cindy did of him, with great color choices for the Man of Color also!


Cindy won an award for Best Pastel Portrait for "The Handyman" (above) at the recent Faces and Figures show at the St. Augustine Art Association.

Do you have any artist friends that work in pastel? That might be interested in pastel?  The March meeting could be a wonderful time to invite them to attend the meeting with you, and to help grow our society. We always welcome guests. When they seem the stunning sort of work our members can accomplish they may be inspired to join us, to take part in our plein airs, to take advantage of our workshops.

So come out and be inspired by Cindy, and bring a friend with you!