March plein air

 The temperatures were not bad last Saturday, but it was definitely rather gray and gloomy. I was certainly hoping the rain would hold off for a few hours though so some painting could take place.

But as it turned out there was a very minimal turnout. I looked all over the park and only found the intrepid Pat Mahoney painting.

I had my granddaughter with me and at least that was one more person painting, though she was using colored pencils rather than pastels. However about 10:30 AM the rain started. I didn't even get to talk to Pat except to say hello as he packed up and left. My granddaughter and I went under the covered picnic pavilion by the playground and continued to paint for a bit. But eventually we decided to head home.

But we ran into Sylvia as we were leaving. She was just arriving but I'm not sure if she painted anything. But as we got to the parking lot we had a big surprise. Steve Johnson was there with his dog Maggie. Most of us "oldtimers" remember Steve and were sad when he moved away, but he's now back in the area. He's keeping a low profile for now as he does some work on his house, but we hope he'll be back with us soon. He was painting some old buildings on the edge of the park, and his work was wonderful as always.

I didn't get to see Pat's painting but I'm sure it was wonderful too since Pat is definitely a plein air master. It's a shame more people didn't come since Spring Park is such a lovely spot. Here is a bit of this morning's works.

UPDATE: Sylvia actually did do a painting from her car despite the rain. Way to go! And Apparently Janelle and Betsey were there too until driven away by the rain. Somehow I missed them when I did my pass through the park. So not the best of plein air turnouts but we did have a few who braved the gloomy skies.