A Super Day at Princess Place

I had my doubts about Princess Place when I woke up at 3 AM, and the rain was teeming down, and lighting was flashing across the sky, and the thunder was booming. I assumed that at best Princess Place might be a soggy mess.  But no indeed, it was wonderful there!

It was a bit overcast early in the morning, leading the wildlife to feel safe to come out and show themselves along the narrow sandy roads. But the sun came out more and more as the morning wore on.

We had quite a nice turnout for the day too, as eleven of us gathered in the parking lot to meet up for the morning.

Some of us then wandered off to scout out the choice areas for painting.

There were certainly plenty of scenic options along the river.

Interesting architecture if you wanted to include some old buildings.

But along the riverfront was a prime spot as there was a lovely breeze blowing in off the water.

If you found yourself a shady spot and a bit of breeze it was just about perfect.

And many of us took advantage of that, whether it was with backs to the river.

Or facing the river.

Or changing positions for lots of small studies.

More thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon, but the weather was still holding out well by the time we took our break for lunch about 11:45.  We all enjoyed a nice leisurely meal together.

After lunch folks brought out there artwork for a "show and tell" and we laid them all out on the picnic table. So here are some snapshots of the work done in the morning. I love to see all the different subjects and styles that our members have to show!

So keep painting everyone. Remember we have a member exhibit coming up in September at the Orange Park Public Library. This is a non-juried show so any of your work is eligible. Keep that in mind over the summer, and now enjoy seeing what some of our members did this morning.

Princess Place paint-out again (and a quick peek ahead to September)

Once again we will finish up our season at Princess Place Preserve, in Flagler County. We had a wonderful paint-out there last June and hope this year will duplicate that:

Where: Princess Place Preserve

When: Saturday, June 7th

Time: 9:00 AM to 12 noon for painting, then stay for lunch!

Princess Place Preserve is at exit 298 (Bunnell) off I-95. Get on route 1 south from the exit.

Go about a mile or so until you see the little brown sign for Princess Place.  Take a left when you see the sign, then follow that road a couple miles until you see the entrance to Princess Place on your left.  Once you're heading into the preserve, you'll drive quite a ways on a dirt road.  Go past the marsh and camping area and you'll end up at the park office and parking lot.

The dirt road into the park is LONG. But keep on going. It's totally worth it when you finally arrive at the river! See you there.

Please bring a picnic lunch to join us all for a picnic around noon. If you forget your lunch there is a Dairy Queen right at the exit from I-95 onto route 1, and you can get lunch there and join us anyway. :-)

There are so many fabulous places to paint that the hard part of the morning will be picking one. We hope you can join us there.

Fall Members Exhibit

And keep painting over the summer. We plan to kick off the fall with a Member Art Exhibition at the Orange Park Public Library. We will be receiving and hanging this show on Tuesday, September 2, the day after Labor Day,  This show is open to *all* members and is non-juried, so any painting you submit will definitely be hanging in the show. If you are nervous to enter juried shows, or if you have a favorite piece that was rejected from a show, this is the place for you!

Member Show opening

The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach was a wonderful venue for our second juried member show. It was a sultry evening, yet we had a great turn-out to see our show.

Our membership is really spread out, yet we had members from far-and-wide who made it to the opening reception for the show - from far corners such as Palatka, Gainesville, Amelia Island ... They all turned up to lend their support to this great second juried show of ours.

As usual the refreshment committee also outdid itself, so big thanks to Carron Wedlund and all the members who stepped up to the challenge to provide refreshments for all our members and guests.

President Lyn Asselta and Show Chair Richard Lundgren finally broke into the festivities to make the announcements we were all eager to hear - the winners of the prizes we had to offer.

We were fortunate to have our excellent judge, Carrie Raeburn, who came all the way from Alabama, to also be on-hand to help with giving out the prizes. Here are the prize winners for this year's show:

Merit Award - Debra Fox

"Autumn Study"

Merit Award - Theri Dufour

"Bliss"

Merit Award - Karen Rose

"Pianissimo"

Merit Award - Donna Grasso

"Wendy's Sheep"

Third Place - Richard Lundgren

"Spring's Messenger"

Second Place - Rick Petersen

"Ascending"

First Place - Wendy Devarieux (who could not be with us for the evening)

"Behind Bouesse"

Best in Show - Lyn Asselta

"Old Hastings Barn"

This show will remain up until June 26, and can be seen anytime during the hours that the Cultural Center is open, and at that time it will move to the Larimer Building in Palatka, where it may be joined by other paintings as well. If you can't get over to the show at Ponte Vedra think about coming down to Palatka over the summer. It's well worth a visit! 

Casey Klahn Conclusion

The First Coast Pastel Society's weekend with Casey Klahn ended with an optional plein air day open to all, not only the workshop participants, and several who could not attend the workshop were there.

The location chosen was Guana River, a lovely area of amazing natural beauty, the "real" Florida as it was originally seen by the first inhabitants and explorers, along the salt marshes and estuaries at the conflluence of the Guana, Tolomato, and Matanzas Rivers.

Also home or pass-through "hotel" to hundreds of bird species, and other wildlife as well. Watch out for the snakes and alligators!

I found the participants on break for an early lunch. They had started down the trails earlier in the day to find a place to set up, but didn't get too far as so much of the trails were underwater. Yes, we have have lots of rain lately. Though luckily Monday was sunny.

However they did reach a good spot, and it was not too far a walk to get back under a bit of shade for some food and fellowship with other artists.

My grandson John was with me, and there was such enthusiasm in the air that he told me he wanted for us to paint pictures too! I had come prepared with some pastels (and oil pastels for John) but our timing was tight and we couldn't stay long enough for that.

John had to content himself with a whole bunch of crazy camera snaps!

After lunch Casey had a critique session for the artists' works of the mornings. But looking at some of their work it sure seemed they had taken his ideas to heart. It was quite a weekend for those involved. It will be interesting to see how this influences their future work.

Casey Klahn Workshop

We had a large turnout for our workshop this weekend with Casey Klahn.  The weather was chilly, raw and rainy on Saturday, but inside spirits were bright, and Casey certainly helped to make them so.

He certainly has participants' attentions, and what he had so say was often so different from things folks had heard before that they really needed to pay attention to make sure they'd heard it right!

Everyone was busy indeed trying to put into practice the things they were learning.

And Casey constantly circulated around the room with comments and advice, that often caused works to become radically different!

As usual the First Coast Pastel Society lunch was a highlight of the day, providing great food to give participants energy for the afternoon. Lyn's cookies were a special hit!

 Everyone wanted to pay attention to any demos Casey might be offering

And what fun it was to see the work everyone else was doing.

Pieces were often far removed from people's usual comfort zones.

And the amazing colors folks chose reflected Casey's teachings.

Luckily the sun came out on Sunday, and that bodes well for Monday and the optional plein air day with Casey at Guana River.