Next week - Orange Park Public Library

What: Member Exhibition at the Orange Park Public Library

When: Tuesday, September 2, 12 noon to 3 PM

Where: 2054 Plainfield Ave., Orange Park, FL 32073

We hope to have a great turn-out next week to kick off our fall season. We are having a Member Exhibit at the Orange Park Public Library. Remember, this is not a judged or juried show. All members are allowed to participate, and there is no fear of rejection! All pieces presented for the show will be hung and displayed if they are properly framed  - with hanging wire, and no saw-tooth hangers.

The show will be on display from Sept. 2 until Sept. 29, and we will hold a reception also. Stay tuned here for more details about when.

The gallery space can easily accommodate 40-60 paintings if they are not too large, so feel free to bring at least two paintings to the exhibit, and even three if you have smaller works. We still have time to pick up paintings for members who might have to be working on Tuesday for our Receiving day, so being at work is no excuse not to participate! We'd love to see lots of member participation.

The gallery is in their meeting room wing, and the library hosts lots of meetings, so quite a few people may see your work. Paintings for the exhibit may be for sale, but need not be. If there are any sales the library does not take a commision, though it might be nice to give something to the Friends of the Library group.

The library is off Kingsley Ave which is a major road off route 17 (Park Ave). If you are coming south on 17 take a right on Kingsley and then left at the light by the DQ onto Plainfield Ave. The library is on the right immediately behind the DQ.

If you are coming north on 17 take a left on Kingsley, and follow the same directions as above.

Friday Night at the Larimer

Friday night was the opening of a wonderful Member Show at the Larimer in Palatka, FL. Our President, Lyn Asselta, said: "I want to thank all of you who came out to the opening at the Larimer tonight. The show looked beautiful and we had a wonderful turnout."

Even thought the weather turned stormy later, and she hoped everyone made it home safely through the storm!

Remember paintings must be picked up on July 24 between 10 AM and 4 PM.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to the food and drinks for the reception.

The Larimer is a lovely venue for displaying art. The gallery space has big windows that let in lots of natural light. Come see it. The show is up until July 24. 

A big thanks to FCPS member Linda Hart Green who provided the photos for this blog post.

Larminer Show Opening Tonight!

(thanks to DarleneScheyer for special guest post)

When: Today, July 11, 6-8 PM
Where: Larminer Building, Palatka, FL
What: First Coast Pastel Society Art Opening

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

 

Another opening exhibit for The First Coast Pastel Society is from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 11th at the Larimer Arts Center, 21 Reid Street, in Palatka!

 

The show will feature 50 paintings, some that were moved to the Arts Center from the Ponte Vedra Cultural Center exhibit, joined by those that are debuting at the Larimer Center.

Did you see the St. Augustine Record's COMPASS great article spotlighting the pastel exhibit opening in Palatka?

Kay Deuben said there may be a parking issue because of construction next door.  Parking options are to park across the street on business lots, since they will be closed, or park on side streets. Hopefully, the construction issues will be over by the 11th. If you need to contact someone, you may call the Larimer at 386-328-8998.

SEE YOU AT THE RECEPTION !!

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.