Painting at Hattie Hill, Blowing Rock, NC

The temperature today hovered around 72, slight breeze and no bugs! I must have died and this is painting heaven...well of course it is because Leighann McCoy is painting with me! Day one of our painting adventure. This is her first time to paint en plein air! She did fantastic! Much bravery with thick paint and limited palette.

Artist that inspire me...

Recently I've had the honor of working with and being influenced by so many painters, who paint quietly at the edge of fields or by a lonely stream for no other reason than they love it! They simply paint to paint. To capture what they can when the light is fleeting, or the leaves are still clinging to a branch. No matter what the humidity is doing, or what insect is biting. Most of these brave souls belong to a group of Plein Air painters "The Chestnut Group." I joined two years ago and can't believe the influence, encouragement, guidance and friendships I have enjoyed. 

Lessons with Lori Putnam

Recently I had the pleasure of assisting Lori Putnam in a Chestnut sponsored workshop. Lori's amazing talent as a painter and in-depth teaching skills helped all of us take a small field sketch and transform it into a large painting. We met at her studios in the Southgate Gallery over the Factory in downtown Franklin, TN. The setting was so inspiring! Hanging all around us were works by Dawn Whitelaw,
Jody and Pat Thompson, Paula Frizbe, and Jean Claude Yeager just to name a few! Here is my start at the first large landscape!

Trading the mouse for the brush

My first experience with plein air was totally a gift. A family friend and member of the Chestnut Group, (www.chestnutgroup.org) arranged a paint out on our family farm near Centerville, TN. I had previously been painting still life and various other commissioned pieces and had no experience painting out of doors! After I watched in amazement this dedicated group capture our beautiful river with oils and in only a few hours...I was hooked! Now I am painting as much as possible and learning something new with every brush stroke!