“Plein Air Richmond” 2012.
Forty plus artists have been painting all over the town . . . James River, historic Fan District, Monument Avenue, Gitner Botanical Gardens (huge) and many other venues over the past week.

One of my entries into the juried exhibit won “Honorable Mention” award by juror, Everett Raymond Kinstler. Sales have been very good for everyone here, with a grand opening last night that hosted a few hundred enthusiastic art buyers, a quartet from the Richmond Symphony and some of the best food & wine imaginable. We are finding the food in Richmond to be just as grand as so many of the city's sculptural monuments. Both Judy and I will be doing extra miles on the bicycles when we return home!

One of four of my pieces that have sold so far is pictured here, as well as the prize winner “Sultry Summer Day, Richmond” painted from Libby Park, a hill overlooking Main Street below and into the distance. As Kinstler remarked “this painting conveys a great sense of emotion & feeling, with an atmospheric quality that really holds my attention.”
I am thrilled to be given an award recognition by a living legend in the art world and truly enjoyed his discourse during last night's show opening, spiced with decades of “painting stories” that included portrait sittings with Bill Clinton, Katherine Hepburn, Paul Newman, John Wayne – the list goes on and is documented on his web site, together with the fantastic art events the man has experienced over his 70 year art career. He is also a very accomplished plein air landscape painter in all genres, as evidenced by some large oils collected by Loryn Brazier, owner of Brazier Gallery, where the collective exhibit hangs until tomorrow afternoon.
Now, it's back to the easel and much hard work trying to improve my own painting skills. As Kinstler said, “don't let an award or lack thereof ever go to your head, because the next show could be different and if I walked into this gallery tomorrow, I may very well pick different pieces than what was selected tonight.”
Monday, we are off to Georgia to complete our trip back east, with a 4 day workshop that I will be teaching this coming weekend. I look forward to providing live painting demos and learning new techniques, as I always do, from the students who will be working at their own easels.