Hardy Souls at Walter Jones Historical Park

One thing about this time of year is that you can never be sure what to expect from the weather. Earlier this week we had a couple warm sunny days, and the temperature hit 80. Yet only a little over a week before that we had a hard frost and snow flurries! It was hard to know what to expect for our plein air day at Walter Jones. Mid-50's were the temperatures forecast but when we arrived at the park there were hints of blue sky, and the sun was trying to break out. It felt very comfortable standing in the sunlight.

Those of who made it there had to dress warmly when we first showed up, but we still had hopes at that point of the sun making it a more pleasant day to be outdoors.

We had a mighty small turn-out though, I think it's about the smallest we have ever had for a plein air day, though it was nice to see our numbers augmented by a guest. She is a neighbor of Rick's and has just recently begun taking pastel lessons with our own Cindy Pierson. Rick invited her to come and she did, though she chose not to paint this morning, but just to meet people and look on. We hope to see her at upcoming meetings.

Other than our guest there were just five hardy members of the FCPS who actually showed up today, It was a shame as, while the weather was not perfect, it was certainly a lovely little park to be at.

Of the five members who attended only four of us had enough time there to try a painting on site.

But the promised sun never materialized, and in fact the cloud cover grew heavier as the morning went on, and the updated forecast promised rain later on. It's raining quite hard now as I type this at home, but at least there was no rain while we were at the park, though the raw air did start to seep into our bones after a while. At late morning we broke for a show and tell, and a quick bite for some. But then Richard, Carron and I took off to Panera for some nice warming soup.

At our show and tell it developed that trees were the primary focus of the morning, though very different representations of them!