A Perfect Day On the Lake

What a Perfect Day to spend sometime near the lake. Lucy Stitzer graciously invited us to paint in and around the old Ellicot cottage renamed the Ellis cottage. The lovingly restored home, it's outbuildings, stone pillars, and landscape created some fascinating drawing and painting challenges. The day started with clouds, but the sun broke through periodically which created some interesting light patterns on the path and in the woods surrounding the cottage. Those on the path looking out 0n the sun drenched dock did some wonderful compositions incorporating the coolness of the path and the warmth on the dock. I personally love the look of an Adirondack chair on any dock or deck. However, for me, this usually causes an anxious state of mind since I have such a difficult time getting them into perspective. . I chose a different subject of an old wood drainage pipe. Missy and I chose our pastels to work with since the day had started out quite cloudy. She did a lovely painting of the lake with a boat house. As for me, I am not sure I was as successful, but that is what this group is all about. We are free to experiment. It is not important that we finish our work or necessarily love what we have done. What is important is that we have had the opportunity to exercise the right side of our brain. Our left side stays pretty busy reasoning and assessing our daily life, thus this moment of peace on Wednesday morning refreshes us like a dip in the lake on a perfect day.

Solamere

What I love about painting with a group of people is that we all perceive things around us differently. That's what makes this opportunity to paint together so wonderful. I look at my front yard everyday and often don't appreciate it enough until I have been away from Solamere for awhile. We all were exhausted from the usual busy July 4th weekend and were looking forward to some real "peace and quiet" on the 6th. (My house still had the remnants of baby and toddler toys about the floor). So, prior to driving down to my house I suggested that they might want to paint the great views of North Mountain coming down the hill instead of the grounds around my house. However, upon arrival no one set up much farther than 50 feet from the house. Each felt there was more than enough to paint right here. It reminded me of how Andrew Wyeth painted hundreds of paintings in and around Chadd's Ford. Very few of his paintings were ever painted more than a mile away from his beloved home. Truly, a reminder to us all how lucky we are - especially to be in Eagles Mere.

We took time to critique our work on the porch this week. I hope everyone found it helpful and enjoyable - I know I did. However, I forgot to take those close ups of all of our paintings so please excuse my negligence.

Next Wednesday we will be painting at Lake Mokoma. Remember all are welcome. We learn from each other and appreciate each persons unique perspective. As always we meet at the outlet pond.

Dincher's Produce

Our Wednesday group of artists "produced" paintings
even without me on June 30th. Fruits and vegetables were highlighted on a picture perfect day. As I sent them off from the outlet pond to Dincher's all wearing sweaters and jackets who knew that unreal heat was going to hit us hard 48 hours later. I think this would be a great place to paint when the fall flowers are hanging from the beams and the squash harvest is in.