Our First Workshop!

This past weekend the First Coast Pastel Society hosted its first workshop, featuring Maine artist Kathleen Galligan.  The theme for this plein air workshop was "Letting Go of the Literal".  Our first plein air day was spent at scenic Anastasia State Park which features 1600 acres of beaches, dunes, salt marshes and uplands.

We parked near the picnic area and then walked around with Kathleen to see the possibilities were for our plein air paintings.

The day was a warm and sunny one however, and in the end most of us chose to set up in the shaded picnic area and at the covered picnic tables themselves, as did Kathleen for her demo painting of the morning.

If we wanted, however, there were visits from wildlife we could also paint, like this great blue heron.

Or this gopher tortoise who crossed the pathway in the middle of Kathleen's demo.

This pathway leading into the dunes was a popular choice since it was easily visible from the shaded picnic grounds!

Day two took us to Frank Butler Park West, a small picnic area and boat ramp on the inland waterway. Though sunny in the morning it was a wild and windy day. A day to hold onto your hats and your pastels and your easels! Again a lot of folks chose to set up under cover.

But others were more brave and ventured out to other areas of the park. It did offer a variety of scenery if you chose to look for it.

And for those who enjoy sky scenes the cloud formations were bold and dramatic as clouds rolled in more heavily and ominously for the afternoon.

Our third and final day took us to a marina in St. Augustine. Some of us ran into raindrops and drizzle on the way to the marina and were worried it might be an indoor day. But there was no rain at the marina, though it was gray and lowering. Kathleen met us all there and then took us on a tour of the marina to show the various sights it had to offer.

Boats of course, as might be expected. Lots of boats. But there were marsh views as well.

And even more wildlife if you chose!

Kathleen chose a location for her demo which looked out over the salt marshes, with boats only far off in the distance.

The weather was crazy that day too. As she did her demo it grew darker, threatened rain, grew lighter, grew windier, blue skies and white clouds tried to appear, then it grew dark and threatening again. All a real challenge for a plein air painter!

But at lunch on that last day we all agreed that the workshop had been fun, fulfilling, and a weather adventure. As one of our members put it: "We can now all sign our works with 'PAS' - Plein Air Survivors!

Thank you Kathleen for coming down to teach this workshop for us, and many thanks to our President, Lyn Asselta, for being a wonderful organizer and food provider!

A great paint out at the Arboretum

Temperatures dropped down into the 30s overnight, the day before our paint out. Those hardy souls who showed up at the 8:30 arrival time had on warm coats, hats, gloves, even long johns!  But the sun was out, and light was crisp and glorious. Most folks spent a little time first walking around, looking for good places to set up, taking some reference photos for future opportunities.

The Arboretum has a small central pond with a walking trail that encircles it, and for people interested in painting a water view there were lots of great spots to set up along the edge.

Some of us jumped in right away and began painting. Others took a little more time to see what the rest of the group was up to before finding their own perfect spot for painting.

Some chose to paint while standing, others found it more comfortable to sit down, but we all had our own styles and equipment for painting.

As the sun rose higher and warmed the area, and it became more comfortable, gloves were shed, and jackets unfastened and even removed. By the time we all met for lunch at noontime we all agreed that once again we had lucked out for an almost perfect day for painting. We had 14 FCPS members attend, and it was great to have so many of us together. We hope for an even bigger turnout for our upcoming meeting in March - Saturday the 2nd at Jackonville's Reddi Arts, 10 AM until noon, with more details to follow in a later blog post. But put it on your calendars now!

We return to the arboreum

Once again the FPCS is returning to the Jacksonville Arboretum. We were there last May, but are returning this year a little earlier, so may see different sights. Who knows what we will see in bloom at this time of year? The azaleas are already in bloom in my yard!

So save the date and join us:

Saturday, February 2
8:30 AM to early afternoon

Please bring your own lunch and water, sunscreen and bug spray. We'll all meet for lunch around noon at the picnic tables. 

(thanks to Steve Johnson for permission to use his photos)

Welcome to the new year

Hurray, we are now officially one year old! This past Saturday we held our meeting to kick off the new year.  As we head into year two we have lots of exciting things to look forward to

We had 17 members attend the meeting at Reddi-Arts in Jacksonville. Our Vice President, Richard Lundren, gave a short presentation about judging art for art shows, and some of the things judges look for, and things to try to do and/or to avoid in your own work if you want to catch the eye of the judge.

Members brought in samples of their own art work. We then broke up into teams and were assigned other members' works to critique. Many of us had never done this before, so the worksheet Richard provided, with hints about what to look for, was invaluable.

We had an amazing variety of work presented. Some finished, some still unfinished.

Quite a variety of styles and subject matters, though heavily in the landscape variety, LOL.

Some works we loved, some we loved but felt needed a little "something" to give them more oomph. But in general we all agreed that we are going to have an amazing Member Show in May, because there is a lot of talent in our group!

Stay tuned to this spot for more information about next month when we will have out first plein air outing for the year.

Kicking off the new year

Wow, can you believe that it's almost 2013? It was a year ago January that the First Coast Pastel Society began, and by the end of the year we were well on our way to 40 members and had become a member of IAPS. We had fun meetings and a painting exchange and great plein air paint-outs. In the upcoming year we will have at least two workshops that we are hosting, and will also hold our first member show.

But in the meantime we will kick off our new year with our January 2013 meeting. Once again we will hold our meeting at Reddi-Arts, whose gallery will host our first member show. The meeting will be held on Saturday, January 5, 10 AM to 12 noon.

Our topic is "group critique and what judges are looking for". Please bring two paintings to the meeting. They can be finished paintings or ones that are in-progress. We look forward to seeing everyone!

Holiday Greetings from

The First Coast Pastel Society 

As our first year comes to a close we are reminded that we've accomplished much and made many new friends in 2012. We are grateful for your enthusiasm, and your commitment to our group and to the pastel medium. Our calendar next year is filling up quickly with plans for our first Members' Exhibit and our first workshops. We hope you'll join us for all the excitement 2013 will bring! Our very best wishes to you and your families for a joyful holiday season and a very happy and healthy new year. 

Sincerely,

Lyn Asselta, President

Richard Lundgren, Vice-President

Debbie Cusick, Secretary

Rick and Patty Petersen, Co-Treasurers

(note that this also went out to all our members as an email, but there are a few we don't have valid email addresses for. If you are a member seeing this, and you didn't get an email from us, please contact us with your correct email address)

Happy Holidays to All

Today was our last meeting of the year, and we had a lovely holiday breakfast together at the St. Augustine Art Association. Many thanks to our President, Lyn Asselta, for providing the lovely feast. We had quiche and biscuits and coffee cake and cantaloupe and fresh hot coffee!

And just being together for a holiday meal was a lovely start to the day. It was great getting together with other pastelists.

And being able to chat with folks we don't see that often and catch up on news and happenings.

Normally this would have been a plein air day, but we decided to hold it indoors and set up still lifes for all of us to work on today. This turned out to be a good idea when a rain squall came through about halfway through the morning.

Because of the holidays the theme of the still lifes was Christmas ornaments, with various ornaments set up in different directions so that we all had something to work on no matter which way we were facing the setup.

Following are looks at the work people started during the morning. Because of the time allotment most of these are clearly still works in progress. But we all had fun being together and look forward to all the events that will be happening in the new year.