Kingsley Plantation!

 

What:   Plein Air paint-out
When:  January 6. 2018, 9 AM to 1 PM
Where: Kingsley Plantation, 11676 Palmetto Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32226

Wow, Do we have a treat in store for us! I had never been to Kingsley Plantation before until today, and what a gorgeous place it is! It's located on Fort George River up near Little Talbot Island, among stunning low country salt marshes.

 

As you turn off the main road you go miles down a narrow paved road, which then turns into an even narrower dirt road. It's quite remote, but as the park ranger said, its very remoteness was probably what saved it when many other former plantations and older homes were razed to make way for modern development.

But all along the road there are glorious views of the marshes, any of which could probably make wonderful paintings. 

Alas for the most part there is nowhere to park and set up to paint. But as you can see, there is very little traffic so nothing to stop you from pausing to take some reference photos.

But after miles you come to the grounds of the plantation, where the first buildings you see are the remains of the old slave quarters. Kingsley Plantation was one of those old southern estates that relied heavily on slave labor, so much of the history, as now told, revolves around this sad trade.

The estate itself  faces out over the river where it picks up lovely cool breezes coming off the water, a great feature in the pre-AC days.

But if they are *too* cool there are places one can step to break the force of the wind.

And from the grounds there are almost uncounted wonderful spots to set up and paint.

 It appears there was some hurricane damage, but for the most part it all looks safe and restored for visiting public at this time. I think we will have a fabulous time.

A few notes to keep in mind:

1) There are restrooms at the Visitor's Center adjacent to the plantation house, but there are no picnic facilities. I spoke to the park ranger who said we are perfectly free to picnic on the grounds, as long as we don't block the view of the plantation house itself, as of course it's a photo op for many - so if we picnic we would need to bring blankets, folding chairs, etc. Alternately, she told me, we could drive 5 minutes down the road to the Ribault Club which has a public covered picnic pavilion by their boat ramp.

2) Remember, it will be **January**. It was 63 degrees when I was there today, but I quickly felt chilled to the bone from the stiff breezes coming in off the river. We know how trustworthy the long range forecasts are, but as of today the Kingsley forecast for January 6 shows a high of 59, so even chillier than today. So plan to dress warmly! I'm sure right now that I'll be wearing warm socks and my down vest, and maybe even gloves. Keep an eye on the forecast. And the ranger even said there is usually about a 4-5 degree difference just between the riverfront and the parking lot/slave quarters. I could feel it myself. So step away from the river to paint if you are too chilled. 

But I'm looking forward to the day. I can't believe I never was here before. I look forward to going back again in a couple weeks, and in seeing you all there.

Debora Stewart - the new year is here soon

Welcome to December fellow pastelists! Upcoming in January is our exciting workshop with Debora Stewart. Today is our deadline for member-only sign-ups and we still have a few openings available. We will be sending out notifications to non-FPCS art groups now.

Debora is a Signature Member and a Master Pastellist of the Pastel Society of America and a member of the Master's Circle of the International Association of Pastel Societies. She is also the author of a Northlight book titled Abstract Art Painting: Expressions in Mixed Media and a series of videos on abstract painting from Northlight TV.

"I teach workshops for artists in abstraction throughout the U.S.  My pastels and paintings are available through galleries in Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois." 

Take the mystery out of abstraction and add excitement to your work with a step by step approach to developing abstractions.  Begin by adding excitement to your work with energetic, expressive exercises designed to help you tap into your intuition.  

Then you will move into creating abstract compositions and color studies from a variety of source materials.  Expert techniques to help you develop underlying structure with underpainting and use of pastel ground.   

Next you will take abstract concepts and apply them to realistic subjects like figures, flowers and landscape.  

Become energized!  Discover a sense of adventure and freedom in your work!  The workshop structure includes warm up exercises, demonstrations, short lectures, individual guidance plus some fun group activities.  

Note that the member price is $250 but the non-member price is $285, yet for a mere $30 you can join the FCPS (a payment this month takes you through all of 2018) and get the membership price - a $5 savings.

For $30, you get so much!  First, you get to hang out on a monthly basis with some really great people!  You also have the opportunity to participate in shows sponsored by IAPS and other IAPS-related pastel societies, you get informative meetings with demos and discussions that cover all sorts of pastel/art related topics.  Your membership allows you to be first-in-line for the top notch workshops we offer and it also gives you a chance to participate in our annual Members' Show. 

We have a non-juried member show coming up in January, and our annual juried show later in the spring, and stay tuned for even more info!

Every other month, you'll get the opportunity to plein air paint at various locations around the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. Wow! That's a LOT for $30!

Holiday Party

From our President Cindy Pierson:

What:    FCPS Holiday Get-Together

When:  Saturday, December 2nd,10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Where: Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach

Hello fellow FCPS members!

A reminder that our December Holiday Get-Together is coming up soon!!

This year, we'll follow the same format, with a pot-luck brunch ~  please bring a brunchy snack of some sort to share.  FCPS will provide the coffee and beverages.

Our Past President, Lyn Asselta, will be giving a demo!!

Also, as we did in January to celebrate our Anniversary, we'd like to do a gift exchange.  

To participate, members should bring in One small, 5x7 , FRAMED painting, WRAPPED. 

When you get to the meeting, each painting will be assigned a number, and then we will draw numbers from a basket to see whose painting we would go home with.  Make sure not to draw the number assigned to your painting 

We have such a wonderful group of artists in the FCPS. The painting exchange was lots of fun when we did it before.

So, bring along a wrapped painting, a small snack to share, and prepare to enjoy the Demo!

 

This is always such a fun morning and it's a great way to kick off everyone's holiday season!

This is also the TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP!  For $30, you get so much!  First, you get to hang out on a monthly basis with some really great people!  You also have the opportunity to participate in shows sponsored by IAPS and other IAPS-related pastel societies, you get informative meetings with demos and discussions that cover all sorts of pastel/art related topics.  Your membership allows you to be first-in-line for the top notch workshops we offer and it also gives you a chance to participate in our annual Members' Show.  Every other month, you'll get the opportunity to plein air paint at various locations around the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area.  

Wow! That's a LOT for $30!

Please visit right here to renew your membership:  http://firstcoastpastelsociety.com There is a link there to renew online.

If you'd prefer to send a check, please make the check out to First Coast Pastel Society and send it to:

Jackie Piontek

 

Once you've renewed your membership, please help Jackie update our members' directory.

 

Send her an email and include the following:

Your Name

Mailing Address

eMail address

Phone  

Website

Looking forward to seeing all of you on the first Saturday in December!  

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  

                            Cindy

 

Finally Fort Mose

It turned out that waiting until November for Fort Mose was an excellent decision! We had glorious fall weather, crisp and clear, from low 60s in the morning to mid-70s by lunchtime. The humidity had gone. It was a great morning to be outdoors.

There were so many paintable options to choose from. There were mosquitoes around but the park ranger, who kindly lent me some mosquito spray, said the mosquitoes had been 100 times worse back in early October - another good reason to have postponed!

 I could not get over all the birds in the park as well - with well over 50 wood storks roosting in trees and flying overhead,

 There were two bald eagles out on the big hammock in the marsh that hosts a great rookery for the birds in the spring.

The maniacal call of the pileated woodpecker echoed through the park too.

 The end of the larger boardwalk was a great spot to face out over the salt marshes.

 Though spots along the boardwalk were good options as well.

 Some folks chose to head over behind the museum building towards the smaller boardwalk.

 Despite the lovely weather the sun did feel intense as it warmed up, and that area provided some more shady areas to set up easels.

Though some smart folks did bring protective umbrellas which gave them more choices of where to paint.

 As we nearly always do we joined for a picnic lunch after the painting had ended. Some folks had packed up earlier and left, and didn't join us for lunch, but we still had enough of us there for two tables.

And we had a little show-and-tell as well. Because some folks left early I didn't get photos of what everyone had done, but here are some of the works from this morning, with the usual caveat that they are all in varying stages of completion.

A New Season

After the turmoils of Hurricane Irma and the threats of thunderstorms this month we finally got together for the new season, and had our first meeting, with a very nice turnout of folks. Good to see so many after the long summer.

We had a special treat, and a chance to loosen our purses! FCPS member Kim Conley is now a local rep for Diane Tonsend pastels, and she brought a huge assortment to show us, and to offer for purchase.

Diane Townsend pastels are great, and there were certainly sets and all sorts of  color options, something for everyone. :-)

Our Hospitality chair was out of town, but as usual the FCPS members stepped up to the occasion so we had plenty to eat.

This was our still life day, with choices for everyone to choose from. Board members brought in still life set-ups and set them up around the room.

So folks were able to move around and make a choice. The threatened thunderstorms never did materialize so we could have painted outdoors. However the temps were in the low 90s, humid, and with a "real feel" of 100, so not exactly pleasant. Indoors was best, and November promises to be much nicer at Fort Mose.

Thanks to Cindy Pierson, Debbie Cusick and Carron Wedlund for providing the still lifes we had the option to choose from.

Mother Nature again

What:    Meeting and indoor paint-out
When:   Saturday, October 7, 10 AM to 12 noon
Where:  Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach

Yes! We will get together finally, and yes, bring your pastels. Mother Nature is not yet done with us, and weather is not looking good for this coming Saturday. Lovely as Fort Mose is, it does not offer any good cover for painting if we have rain and thunderstorms.

But the Cultural Center is available, so we well be getting together there. We will follow the format of our cancelled September meeting, and will get together to paint still lifes. I hope we'll get a great turn-out, and look forward to seeing the still lifes we will produce.

October and November will end up doing a flip-flop and we are planning for a plein airt paint-out next month instead. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for good weather then!

Fort Mose

What:  October plein air Paint-Out
When: Saturday, October 7, 9 AM to 1 PM
Where: Fort Mose Historical State Park, St. Augustine, FL

Those of us who are Old Timers in this group may recall that our VERY FIRST plein air ever, after the FCPS was founded, was to Fort Mose back in February 2012. It's a wonder place, and it was a wonderful day, so it seems fitting to return there in our 5th anniversary year.

(photo courtesy of Deb Fox)

Fort Mose (pronounced Moh-ZAY) is the site of the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what is now the United States, and in 1994 was designated a National History Landmark. It sits on the salt marshes to the north of St. Augustine proper.

It has a couple sets of boardwalks that lead out over the marshes, and out to am amazing rookery for herons and egrets on a large hammock.

It's also part of the Great Florida Birding Trail and for several years great horned owls have nested in the park, so you don't know what wildlife you might see. 

Thanks to Deb Fox for setting this up, and Deb has also included sets of directions depending on the location you are coming from, so for directions keep reading. Note that Deb says:

We should meet in the parking lot at 9:00 a.m.  There are picnic benches for us for lunch and there are restrooms in the lobby of the visitor center.  Admission to the park is free, but there is a $2.00 fee if you want to go into the visitor center to see the exhibits. 

From St. Augustine: From downtown St. Augustine, drive north on A1A. At the carousel (you read it correctly), continue straight north on San Marco. (A1A turns right towards Vilano Beach. Don't go that way.) San Marco merges with Hwy 1. Shortly after the merge, look for a bronze statue on the right and a sign for Fort Mose. Turn right on Fort Mose Trail. Fort Mose Trail dead ends into Fort Mose picnic area and parking lot.

OR: From Hwy 1 in St. Augustine, drive north past Hwy 16. Look for a bronze statue on the right and a sign for Fort Mose. Turn right on Fort Mose Trail. Fort Mose Trail dead ends into Fort Mose picnic area and parking lot. (note: those of us coming from the west just turn left onto US 1 from Hwy 16)

From Jacksonville: Drive south on Hwy 1. Turn left on Fort Mose Trail. (If you pass Hwy 16 you've missed Fort Mose Trail.) Fort Mose Trail dead ends into Fort Mose picnic area and parking lot.

As usual, feel free to bring a picnic lunch so we can all gather together for a meal after a fun morning of painting. Show and tell of artwork also for those so inclined.

October often brings lovely weather. Everyone keep your fingers crossed, and NO MORE HURRICANES!