Kingsley Plantation - They Gave a Plein Air and Nobody Came!

It was 35 degrees on Saturday morning at Kingsley Plantation! This was not the first time we had faced weather like this though. Way back in February 2013 it was 35 degrees when we had a plein air at the Jacksonville Arboretum. Yet we still had a great turn-out of artists, even though all in winter coats and even long johns! But the weather report back then promised to warm up and sure enough by late morning it had gotten up into the 60s so we had a great day. But Saturday promised never to get out of the mid-40s. Several people had told me at Tim's the night before that it was far too cold for them to plan to come, so I didn't know what it expect.

But I got up and out early and headed to Kingsley. It did feel quite cold, but the sun was out and shining. I scouted around and found the picnic table at the Ribault Club that the ranger had recommended to me on my previous visit.

There were certainly paintable opportunities but yes it was cold. From the inside out I had on a T-shirt, fleece shirt, PolarTec jacket, and a down vest! And I was still cold until I got on my hat and gloves. I was comfy then but of course it's hard to paint with pastels while wearing gloves. At any rate I settled into the parking lot and waited to see what would happen, but what happened was that nobody came! The plein air was scheduled at 9 AM, so I decided it was okay to leave when no one had showed up by 9:45.

It never did warm up though on Saturday. What a difference a day makes and both Sunday and Monday warmed up nicely to be refreshing plein air days, but Saturday was a winter day. However I'm so glad to have discovered Kingsley. It's a wonderful place. We have to get it back into our plein air rotation sometime soon because everyone will love it. Just not in January again perhaps. :-)

But the trip was hardly a waste. I got some great reference photos. And there were lots of birds! As some folks know I'm an avid birder as well as a painter, so I took some time to check out birds in the area. I didn't paint on Saturday, but here are the birds I saw.