The South Carolina WPW trip - part
deux!
The WPW crew being HARDCORE! Painting at 9am the morning of the opening reception for the show
So even in the midst of the excitement surrounding the
"Women Painting Women" show at
Robert Lange Studios, 12 of us painters decided we were going to take a week and paint like crazy. Paint paint paint! It was a blast - we went in on a rental house on Sullivan's Island, just across the way from Charleston, SC, and planned a week of plein air painting and painting from the model at a variety of locations, including Magnolia Cemetery, Magnolia Plantation, the marshes at Shem Creek, various marshes around Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms, downtown Charleston, and the home of the lovely and amazing Charleston painter and WPW show participant
Shannon Runquist. Phew - that's a lot of painting!
The whole group painting from the model
Sadie Valeri's painting and setup in downtown Charleston, in Philadelphia Alley
Painting at the house on Sullivan's Island
Beach painting - Sullivan's Island
Stefani Tewes and her painting
Linda even found volunteer models amongst the others in the house...
Linda's sketch of me - done in about 45 minutes!!
As the week progressed, the number of paintings stacked up, and we overflowed the original designated drying area for paintings... art everywhere!! So fun and interesting to see everyone's work as we tackled the landscape and figure in different locations and different times of day...
paintings...
more paintings...
yet more paintings...
whoa yes, more paintings...
In addition to all the painting we had planned for ourselves, a group of us also signed on for the Charleston Fine Art Dealers' Association's (
CFADA) Painting in the Park event at Washington Park in downtown Charleston at 9am that first very chilly Saturday morning!! We bundled ourselves up and painted our fingers off (nearly literally - it was cold!) and made paintings to be auctioned off that evening to benefit Charleston public school system high school art programs.
My painting, all framed up and ready for the auction...
But lest you think, dear reader, that this whole week was all work and no play, please know that there was MUCH fun to be had at the WPW house... and much great food to be eaten!! Between group dinners at the house, side trips to art shows and generous hosting (including a magnificent oyster roast) at the hands of Shannon Runquist, the WPW crew were well-fed both nutritionally and spiritually by great food, conversation and art (though possibly not well-rested - it was a very busy and exciting week!)
We were also fortunate to be in a great town with tons of great art - so we eagerly took advantage of opportunities to check out other shows in town, including the amazing Mary Whyte watercolors at Coleman Fine Art:
What an amazing week - one of the best I've experienced in a long time! Great company, great talent, completely inspiring and amazing group of people. I want to go back!
I love these guys!
What an amazing trip!! Sigh.
P.S. You can read my fellow WPW on expedition participants' blog entries as well - they've been gathered at the following link:
