Monday, June 29, 2009

A plein air (re)treat




Many,many,many THANK YOUs to Susan and Bill Johnson for a wonderful two days at their mountain "getaway" home in western Maryland.
Susan and I were water color students a couple years, well a few, OK a really long time ago at Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. Having since kept in contact with a group of plein air artists from Switzerland and France, she and Bill played hosts last week to these artists well as some members of the West Virginia Water Color Society.
Their beautifully unique home was constucted from materials saved from deconstructed buildings. It appears as the builder came upon a treasure he hauled it there and built a room around it. Thus the bell towers and leaded and stain glass windows, oak panels and even kitchen cabinets from a chem lab from a school. Equally charming is the setting. The house is perched along a hill a short walk across a covered bridge from a mountain stream and reservoir. This place is the dream of every artist or other person with even an ounce of imagination.
A picture really is worth a thousand words, esp. when one doesn't speak French ! It was interesting to see the different approaches each artist took to interpret the location. And after a day of painting...ah, the wine, the food, the wine...





2 comments:

  1. Boy that looks like a get-to-gether and loads of fun.
    I'll bet there were a lot of paintings being produced.

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  2. Sorry Gary that I missed your comment !!
    Yes it really was a great time. I hadn't done plein air to much extent since college...I'm such a softy ! I thought of you when I wrote "mountains of western MD " . Technically they are, and beautiful in their own right, but my heart will always be in the Tetons.

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