Alpine Groves paint-out

What: October 2015 FCPS paint-out
When: Saturday, October 3, 2015
Where: Alpine Groves Park, Switzerland, FL 

Okay, it's that time of year now, time for our first paint-out of the fall season. Our first event will be held at Alpine Groves Park in Switzerland, FL, in St. Johns County. Alpine Groves lies on the east bank of the St. Johns River and has a lot of river frontage for great viewing. There is also a long fishing pier that goes out into the lake and has a covered spot at the far end for great water views.

It looks like Mother Nature will be kind again. A cool front is moving in and a high of 77 is predicted for Saturday, with no rain - so it should be perfect plein air weather!

Alpine Groves is off state road 13. From the north you would take the San Jose Blvd. (13) south exit off I-295. Continue south and when you come to a traffic light at Roberts Rd. the road narrows to two lanes. Alpine Groves will be on the left not too much further along. From the south you want to take 17 north to 16 east, or I-95 north to 16 west. In either case take 16 until you get to 13 north. Eventually you will see Switzerland Community Church on the right, and the park is just ahead on the left.

There are lovely trails through the woods if woodland and forest scenes are to your liking.

Though the spectacular water views are the main draw. 

There is also an old farmhouse near the river. When I called to verify that we could paint there on Saturday I was told that there might be "a lot of people" around the old farm house at some point during the day. I'm not sure what that means but keep it in mind if you want to paint the house!

At any rate there is parking available all the way down at the far end of the park road by the farmhouse, near the river, and I suggest that's were we all gather in the morning to start out.

As usual, feel free to bring a picnic lunch and we can gather to eat and have an art show-and-tell.

Because of the time of our paint-out I don't expect we will be there on Saturday for sunset. LOL.

But the sunsets are spectacular, so keep it in mind if you want to return for other visits. I'm looking forward to being there on Saturday and hope you are too. 

JCA Show reception and closing

Wow, September is ending. Our show at the JCA is ending too. 

Don't forget that tomorrow is the pickup date for our artwork, 9:30 AM.

We had a wonderful reception for the show. Our Hospitality folks did a wonderful job as usual, and within the required kosher restrictions were able to provide great food and drink for us all. 

We had a great turn-out of folks who came to see the show, both the participants, but also friends, family members and other FCPS members who came out to support us even if they had not participated in the show.

The pictures were wonderful of course, and everyone took plenty of time admiring them as they were all asked to vote for a People's Choice Award. We had two awards to give out, with very nice prizes to the recipients as well.

 Congratulations to Rebecca Pasko for her second place People's Choice Award.

And of course congratulations to Cindy Pierson for being our first place People's Choice Award winner! Becky and Cindy both had beautiful works, but I'm sure the choices were tough for many as there were so many beautiful paintings. I know that I found it hard to vote.

In addition, Cindy reported that her painting "Observations" was SOLD at the show. Congratulations Cindy!

Don't forget - pickup tomorrow at 9:30, and this Saturday is our first plein air event of the season, 9 AM at Alpine Groves Park (blog post to follow). I hope to see you there.

September Meeting

Most of us had a wonderful summer, but it's also great to head into the fall and the lovely weather ahead, and the opportunities facing us in the coming months. September means it was time to kick off our new season with the FCPS. We started the meeting with some of our members who attended IAPS telling us about some of the highlights of their experiences there.

Then we had our own member and co-President Rick Petersen give us a demo on cutting mats for framing.

He brought with us all the tools he needed for creating a nice professional-looking mat at just a fraction of the price you would pay at a framing shop.

His directions were certainly clear and concise, and he had hand-outs to give everyone that provided information as an aide-mémoire for those of us who need a little help these days in remembering all the details.

We had over 20 in attendance, and it was great to greet old faces and meet some new faces. We passed the information to everyone that the board has decided to amend our by-laws and that beginning this season we will now hold elections for new officers at the May meeting rather than January, and that will give them the summer to prepare and get ready for new responsibilities. 

When we talk about officers and committee members remember that this CAN MEAN YOU! So try to think of ways in which you may be able to help your society. May elections means you have a few more months to think about the subject.

Our other exciting news is that we have now been officially accepted as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. This means that any donations given to us are tax deductible. Pass the word to friends and family, and don't forget possible matching grants funds from present or former employers. 

Coming up, the handouts from the presentation...and then in October our first fall plein air event which we are expecting to have at Alpine Groves Park on the east side of the St, Johns River in St, Johns County. Stay tuned to your blog for more details. 

Fall Member Show

Hurray! Fall has started and we have gotten our Member Show hung at the Jewish Community Alliance this morning. As usual. I'm so impressed at the quality and variety of the work our members have provided us to share with the public.

The JCA is a great venue as it gets a lot of foot traffic, so is a great place to display our work and educate people about the medium we all love. Even as we were just taking the paintings in and then getting them arranged and hung we had people constantly passing by and stopping to ask us about the work, the medium, and to tell us how much they loved the paintings.

The gallery space is a long hallway connecting sections of the center, and this is the finished product, with all our paintings up on the wall. How wonderful that we had enough artwork to fill the gallery space!

Don't forget that next Sunday, September 13, is our opening reception, 1-3 PM. Because of the kosher dietary restrictions the Hospitality Committee will handle refreshments, so no need to bring anything.  Just tell all your friends. The show will be up for the rest of the month if folks can't come on Sunday but would like to see the show. Here below are all the paintings in the show, but as I've said many times, it's very hard to photograph pastels when they are under glass. So these paintings will show some glare, they are not professional photos. And I have not identified the titles and the artists!

If you want to know for sure, and see them in their best light, you will have to come next Sunday. I hope to see many folks there. But in the meantime, of course, I hope to see many of you at our meeting tomorrow morning.