Spring Park - another awesome day

When you plan for a plein air event months in advance you never know what you will have on the day.  Spring Park, though, seemed to be able to cover any eventuality - lovely vistas of course, but plenty of shade for hotter days, lots of covered shelter in case of rain.

But once again we were lucky. It was in the upper 60s and breezy when we arrived, just about perfect. It did warm to the upper 70s as the morning wore on, but the shade and the breeze kept everyone comfortable. The threatened early afternoon thunderstorms never materialized.

Once again we had around a dozen folks who came up to paint with us. Several immediately set up prime spots inside the gazebo near the water's edge.

There were plenty of squirrels checking us out. They must get fed by park visitors as they were certainly bold and unafraid of humans.

Spring Park is big enough to offer plenty of options, but small enough that we could mostly see everyone and see what viewpoints they had chosen.

The views of the St. Johns River were of primary interest to most FCPS members however.

And most folks found spots to set up that allowed shade and comfort, but great views of the river.

Though others wandered along the stream up towards the iconic spring in Spring Park to find their inspiration.

There was certainly something for everyone, and easy walking if you were carrying all your plein air "stuff" while you checked it out.

This pair of sailboats riding at anchor seemed to capture the imagination of more than one FCPS'er.

As usual we broke for lunch about noon and had lunch and a show-and-tell under one of the cool and comfortable covered picnic pavilions. Below are works that were done, in various stages of completion of course, and some members even found time to do more than one painting.

More and more I'm seeing members working small on plein air days, which lends itself to multiple paintings if you choose. Quite a few of these were in the 5x7 or smaller size.

There was *one* issue that was completely unexpected. Since we were there for a full morning one of the key pluses was that the park featured not only ONE but TWO restrooms. And yet we got there only to find BOTH restrooms were locked, and remained so the entire morning. I live locally and go to Spring Park quite often, and I have never ever found the rest rooms locked whenever I went there. Talk about surprises ....

At any rate we have a member meeting coming up in May. Details will be posted on the blog later this month, but there are already details listed in the calendar which you can find by scrolling to the end of the blog. Check it out now if you like. It sounds like an interesting exercise in store for all.

Spring Park plein air

What: FCPS plein air
Where: Spring Park, Green Cove Springs
When: April 4, 2015, 9 AM to 1 PM

Back in the fall of 2011 the First Coast Pastel Society was just a gleam in Lyn Asselta's eye. In fact we didn't even have that name in mind yet at the time, but Lyn held a meeting at her home and tried to invite as many folks as she could reach out to to see if there was enough interest to form a pastel society for this area. There was a lot of enthusiasm so she decided to go ahead. That very next month, in November of 2011, we decided to have a plein air paint-out.

The venue chosen was Spring Park in Green Cove Springs, and we had about a dozen enthusiastic pastelists show up and paint. It was a wonderful day, and such a lovely place to paint that it seemed high time to go back there again now that we are formally a society with many more members.

Spring Park lies on the banks of the St. Johns River, on the east side of US 17 as it goes through the heart of Green Cove Springs. If you click on the link above you will see it lies between Walnut St. and Spring St.

The park has wonderful  water views, with a fishing pier that goes far out over the river. Sometimes interesting boats are docked at the far end of the pier. There are covered picnic areas and a large gazebo (which we took advantage of our first time there when it began to drizzle). There is a small brook leading from the iconic spring down to the river. There are lots of trees.

In short, there are all sorts of wonderful potential subjects for plein air. Not to mention two rest rooms!

Lots of birds too if you want to capture some wildlife in your paintings.  Below is the painting done that day by our own Richard Lundgren - as fantastic an artist then as he is now. :-)

The park is in the heard of downtown Green Cove, so there are also interesting historic buildings nearby that could be your subjects as well.

And if you need a pick-me-up or would rather have pizza (or other Italian food) for lunch rather than a picnic - well Spring Park Coffee and D'Fontana's Italian Restaurant are both on Ferris St., an easy walk.

NOTE: There is some destruction/construction going on at the park on the Walnut Street side, but the park is still open. However better to park in the lot by the playground on the Spring St. side, or at the end of Spring St. down by the picnic area along the river. 

Cindy's demo session

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour)

March was a tough month for some members of the First Coast Pastel Society, and a number of us were laid low with bad colds and various illnesses. Fortunately there were enough healthy members to provide a warm and attentive audience for our presentation.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour) 

The presentation was by our own award-winning Cindy Pierson, who is an amazing portrait artist.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour) 

Our own Debbie Fox was chosen to be the model for the demonstration. Great job Debbie on having the patience to sit for this demo.

(photo courtesy of Theri Dufour)

(photo courtesy of Kay Deuben)

(photo courtesy of Pat Mahoney)

President Lyn Asselta was unable to be with us but sent these words to us all: 

I want to say a great big thank you to all of you who helped make our last meeting a great success even though so many of us were away or unable to attend! You guys are great!! Although I was able to sort of keep track of what was going on from afar, I knew everything was in good hands!

(photo courtesy of Cindy Pierson)

Cindy later shared with our group the finished portrait of Debbie. What a fantastic likeness, and what a beautiful portrait. 

A wonderful portrait demo - Bring an Artist friend to the meeting!

What: March general meeting

Where: the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach

When: Saturday, March 7, 10 AM to 12 noon

Most of you know our own Cindy Pierson, one of out faithful members and attendees. But are all of you familiar with her marvelous portrait work? If you attend our Saturday meeting you will be! Cindy had graciously agreed to be our demo artist for our upcoming meeting.

You may not also know that Cindy was recently accepted as an Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America based on her wonderful portraits. 

Many of you remember Casey Klahn from the workshop he did for us last year, and he's instantly recognizable about in the portrait Cindy did of him, with great color choices for the Man of Color also!

Cindy won an award for Best Pastel Portrait for "The Handyman" (above) at the recent Faces and Figures show at the St. Augustine Art Association.

Do you have any artist friends that work in pastel? That might be interested in pastel?  The March meeting could be a wonderful time to invite them to attend the meeting with you, and to help grow our society. We always welcome guests. When they seem the stunning sort of work our members can accomplish they may be inspired to join us, to take part in our plein airs, to take advantage of our workshops.

So come out and be inspired by Cindy, and bring a friend with you!

A Wonderful plein air day

Wow, what a day. When I was a girl I used to go to Bible Camp every summer. We had art lessons, and songs, and learned Bible verses. One that always stuck with me was from Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it" Even now, after 50 years have passed, this is the first thing that pops into my head when we have a day like the one we had on Saturday at Marineland.  It was a glorious day - with the sun shining, the wind blowing, the waves crashing on the beach, the birds flying overhead (including a bald eagle). It was the sort of day that truly makes me rejoice, and what fun it was to share that beauty with my fellow pastelists.

How amazing it was for us to have a rocky beach scene to paint - so unusual in Florida. It truly felt more like coastal New England, at least until you turned around to look at the palm trees.

The waves were rough and big enough to bring out surfers later in the morning, and we shared the boardwalk with whale watchers.

There were a number of picnic tables scattered at different spots along the length of the boardwalk. The tide was quite high when we arrived and for some of us the boardwalk itself seemed like a great place to paint from.

But of course the beach was glorious too and certainly had plenty of spots to set up on.

The wind was invigorating, but we also had to bundle up against it to stay warm while painting in one place.

It was not a bitter, biting wind however. Just the sort of wind to get your blood stirring and your heart and soul rejoicing.

Different groups found spots that appealed to them.

And we were spread out from one end of the beach to the other.

(photo by Cynthia Pierson) 

Even your faithful blogger got captured on film for this occasion, a rare event!

As is our custom we gathered for lunch at the end of a fine morning of painting.

We were pleased to have a couple new attendees with us - Carmen who is from Minnesota but visiting her daughter in St. Augustine Beach, and Corinne who recently joined us and came all the way from Savannah for this event! It was great to have you both with us.

We didn't have as much of a show-and-tell as we sometimes do, but here are a few images from the morning, including one watercolor!

Two of our members from up Amelia Island way felt it was too far to come all the way down to Marineland to join us, so they got together to have their own paint out at Fort Clinch. Sorry you could not be with us Linda and Janet, but what a great idea.

Don't forget that the deadline to enter our Spring juried show is fast approaching. See the entry form on the blog for details, but Feb. 16 is the deadline date for jpg submission.

Also February 14 is the deadline for getting in your deposit for the Ann Manry Kenyon workshop, before we open it up to non-members.

Then on March 7 we will be back at our meeting place in Ponte Vedra Beach. Our own Cindy Pierson, a wonderful portrait painter, will be doing a demo for us.

Ann Manry Kenyon workshop

FPCS members - here's your chance to get first dibs on a workshop with world-class portraitist Ann Manry Kenyon:

FCPS portrait/figure workshop with Ann Manry Kenyon

IMPORTANT Dates
February 14 Member sign up deadline. $100 deposit will hold your spot.
February 15 Workshop sign up open to non-members.
March 1 Final payment for workshop due.
May 9-10 Workshop, 9am-5pm, Ponte Vedra Cultural Center

Workshop Fees:
$200 FCPS members
$240 non-members
Lunch (optional) $10 per day
You may pay your fees on the blog (firstcoastpastelsociety.blogspot.com) or mail a check (email us for the address to mail the check)

FCPS Portrait workshop schedule
Saturday and Sunday, May 9-10, 9am-5pm

From Ann: I’d like to begin the first morning with quick poses of 3 or 4 minutes and gradually building to ten minutes and perhaps the last before the lunch break, 30 minutes. Then the afternoon can be one long pose (with model breaks, of course). The second day might consist of a partially clothed single pose throughout the day. Or we often play it by ear, so to speak, and even have one long morning pose and a different long afternoon pose. The participants will be free to choose to paint only the head and shoulders or the entire figure. I do not want to pressure them concerning their choice as I think the happier one is, the more one can relax and drink in information.

Workshop supply list
Newsprint pad
Charcoal sticks
Chamois cloth
Kneaded eraser
Long clips to hold your paper
At least 5 sheets of Moonstone color (you may bring other colors as well) Canson mi teintes paper or any brand sanded papers or boards. Ann will be using Canson paper for demos.
Light flesh tones graduating to darker earth tones, used in initial drawing.
Soft pastels - Any good set. The more colors, the better.

Lunch options
Lunch is available to workshop participants for $10 per day. There will be bread, lunch meat, cheese,
condiments, snacks, green salad, and fruit. We also provide bottled water and coffee. You must pay for lunch in advance. There is a paypal button on the blog site and the money is due at the same time as the final workshop payment or you can include the cost in your check mailed to Theri Dufour (email us for address)

About Ann Manry Kenyon

Ann Manry Kenyon is a nationally known portrait artist based in Jacksonville, FL. She has painted CEOs, academic faculty and private commissions. She had served as a juror many times, most recently at the Sumner Show for the Portrait of Society of Atlanta. She is faculty for the Portrait Society of America, a member of the Salmagundi Club of NY, Pastel Society of America and many other notable organizations. More info at www.annmanrykenyon.com.