WOW! Lemont! What a Paint Out!

I think there were more unusual things about our Paint-Out this weekend, than any I can think of.  

First, it was probably the coldest of the PAPC-SW Paint-Outs -- Baptism of the SoWesters!

BUT

We planned to gather outside of the Lemont Historical Society only to discover that Art Garibay's wife is the Vice-President of the Historical Society and he had the key to let us in from the cold.

And Art had the Press coming out to greet us at Noon.  

Then, April and Marge have their work at a gallery there -- The Artful Gatherings -- And the Gallery owners,  Alice & JIm Chin had opened their doors to us saying they would "put on the coffee" for us to come and use their huge workroom for our critique!

We got a late start because the drive around the town -- rich with hillsides, limestone I & M Canal, quaint shops and Churches -- was a bit overstimulating.   And for me with my quirk about big old bridges? --  Art let me know that a large old train bridge was there, out of use, and had not been torn down.   What a find!   So a little more time -- for trekking, photos and with a big dog walking the rugged territory, deciding not to challenge my luck by bringing in my gear. 

And then while painting, several visits by photographers resulted in a mystery -- there were no other artists out  painting (?)--  and a great deal of chatting about cameras.    One is also an artist who is now on our mailing list --   Mike -- who has a truly cool camera.   And the other was one of our new Great Lakes Pastel Society members,  Gary Wick.   

Early wrap up to Meet the Press, then off to the Artful Gatherings for our WARM critique --- and a number of discoveries.

Answer to the mystery -- our PAPC-SW folks are creative in more ways than their paintings  -- half of the group was painting from their cars!

And ----- WELCOME GREAT LAKES PASTEL SOCIETY - ILLINOIS!!

In all, three new folks from Great Lakes Pastel Society showed up on this cooollllldddd day  (though, of the new Pastellists only Sue actually set up and painted out -- good for you, Sue)  who all said they would truly be doing Plein Air now that they had group to motivate them.    Sue Flannagan, Dee Lippin, and Gary Wick.     

PRODUCT FOLLOW-UP:

Wallis Paper ---- product designed & manufactured by a Pastellist, Kitty Wallis.   Kitty has also developed pastels you can mix and make yourself.    Just mix, form and let dry.    Great to mix your own special colors.    At the first IAPS Convention the parking lot was home to a very large structure with white walls 6' tall, tubs of water, pots of the colors and artists up to their elbows mixing, drawing and smearing on the white walls.   By the end we had the largest group painting any had seen.   Gorgeous and great fun.    Available through Art Supply Stores -- Dakota, Jerry's, Blick, etc.

Maroger Medium  in a tube --  can be purchased at the following website:

www.oldmastersmaroger.com

Diane Rath is an artist who teaches at the Palette & Chisel.   She has studied with David Leffel who is one of the current day proponents of Maroger.

www.dianerath.com

While I had purchased Maroger solely from David Davis in New York, their product comes in glass jars.   Halina told me about the product and manufacturer above who packages their Maroger in tubes.   The tubes make plein air work soooo much easier in oils.

BILL CREEVY --   My occasional mentor and always friend, has written The Oil Painting Book and The Pastel Book.    I recommend both of them HIGHLY as they are current day Cennini and Mayer overviews of materials and applications.   The effect of each of these books is EXPERIMENT EXPERIMENT EXPERIMENT.   And experimenting will help free one from rules, formula and derivative and/or rendered images --   thus freeing the 'Artist In Residence' to paint paintings.    

Try Amazon.com.

Enough for now.....

Thank you all once again for a very warm, stimulating and thought provoking time.

Looking forward to more....

Rita R