SPRAA "Paint the Town"

SPRAA's Paint the Town in St. Petersburg, FL. was a fantastic event this year. There were so many wonderful places to paint. Met up with Susie Covert at 7 am and chose Passe-Gril to paint the first day. The light was all filtered, but we had a great day, walking along the beach and picking up a few shells before settling in to paint the sailboats behind the marina.

After a quick lunch, we painted the colorful cottages along the center of town, where we met up with the town cat who kept us company throughout the afternoon! Heading off of the Island, we detoured into Fort Desoto Park where we each picked a spot on either side of the causeway to paint the evening light along the water's edge. We finished just as the sun was setting and headed home across the Skyway with a spectacular sunset to finish off a perfect painting day!

Other areas I painted included the Salt Creek Boatyard, Historic St. Petersburg Neighborhood, and North Beach at Fort Desoto National Park.


Anyone interested in finding out more about SPRAA (St. Petersburg Representational Artist Association) can visit their website: www.spraa.com. It is only $25.00 a year to join, and the paintout every year is so much fun. Lots of great people and great art. This year's show is at Finn Gallery.

(My little painting "Evening Waders" received an "Honorable Mention"!)

Don Demers, Mary Erickson Workshop

Last week I had the pleasure of painting and learning with old friend and painting buddy, Mary Erickson, and her mentor, Don Demers. The weather was a bit chilly the first day, so us students watched Mary and Don paint demos of local scenes of Venice, Florida from memory. Mary could paint scenes of the Venice beaches blindfolded, I think. She knows the landscape there better than anyone I know. Don managed to keep up with her, however; with a surf filled painting of the North jetties. After lunch, we went out to the beach for some hands on painting.

Day two we met out at the beach at 7 am for the sunrise. Don and Mary both gave demos later that morning. Don's demo of a palm tree along a beach path, and Mary gave an excellent demo relating to the unique structure of palm trees.









Day three we met at Spanish Point. Here, Don gave a demo in drawing accurately with a brush, and then painting. His demo was of the old boat builder's shack. Students painted in the afternoon. I painted the old Gutpill House.












Day four started with another sunrise paint out at 7 am. Afterwards, we went over to Higel Park to watch both Mary and Don paint demos of a sailboat, then the afternoon was spent back at Venice Art Center working on finishing our plein air pieces from memory and using all students and instructors plein air work as reference.

Finally, we ended back at Mary's for pizza, beer and wine. It was a great workshop, I learned a lot, had fun, and met some interesting and talented artists.