I am delighted to be an artist in the Plein Air Pandemic Paint Out 2020.

The event is a creative adaptation of what previously had been the Willamette Lavender Festival Plein Air Paint Out which had to be canceled due to Covid-19.

In July 2019, I visited the display of artwork from the Lavender Festival Plein Air Paint Out at the Chehalem Cultural Center while visiting friends in Portland. After viewing the art, we explored some of the lavender farms where I painted my own plein air pieces in watercolor.

Before traveling to Oregon, I read about the plein air event. I remember thinking how it would be great to have been part of this event. But that wasn’t possible because artists had to be painting in the lavender fields two weeks before the festival. I was planning to visit friends and attend the festival, so the timing to be a artist in the event didn’t work for me.

Covid-19 changed the festival plein air event this year. Instead of painting in plein air (outside) by artists in the lavender fields of Oregon, the event was opened to artists everywhere to paint where were and what they saw during the pandemic.

So, this year I was able to participate!

For the Paint Out, I painted three of my views of Florida while in social isolation – in acrylics.

Cypress was created using a pallet knife. I painted cypress trees and cypress knees to reflect the views along a boardwalk alongside a creek off the rails to trails bike path on the outskirts of town.

I painted two views in the Sweetwater Wetlands Park, 125 acres of wetlands and ponds that provides habitat for a wide range of birds.

Ibis and Palm captures two ibis I saw feeding in one of the park’s ponds. From my painting experiences at the park, I’ve learned that I need to be careful in selecting the location to set up my easel because there is more wildlife in the park than birds. Once while painting, I heard the huge snort of a bull gator and realized the gator was in a pond only a few yards from where I was painting.

Sweetwater is an acrylic painting of the overlook at the park. The overlook not only provides a great viewing platform for observing but also is one of the few shaded locations in the area. During the summer, the park can be hot …very hot.

The Plein Air Pandemic Paint Out art is hosted in an online gallery that you can visit. You can purchase the art, with a portion of the sale going to support the Chehalem Cultural Center, which offers art and music programs and classes.

When you visit the online gallery, you’ll see paintings of lavender fields, but there are more paintings from other locations. Gardens, flowers, rivers and woods are themes for many of the paintings. Other views include a cactus grove, a downtown view of Seattle, and children learning about gardening during the pandemic.

This is my first plein air paint out. I had thought my first plein air event would be the Santa Fe Springs Plein Air Paint Out. I was one of the invited artists for the event, which was scheduled for early April.

Covid-19 postponed the event. We artists are painting now and will be sharing our work this fall at at a local gallery, the host of the Santa Fe Springs Paint Out. In the meantime, I’m posting some of my work on the DailyPaintWorks gallery.

So my first ever plein air event was in Oregon, sharing my Florida views during the pandemic. Even though I painted cypress and palm trees, I was able to think about the lavender fields from last year and be able to support art in Oregon.

I’m looking forward to the online exhibition reception that will be held in two weeks. This will be my first artist online reception.