Palletteers Paint at Butler Bay

Painting at Butler Bay among the ruins and the ancient baobabs is always a wonderful experience for me! The site, rich with the remains of St. Croix history, is like being in the middle of a movie set, only this one is for real! Located across the road from the Caribbean, the property is the recipient of constant sea breezes and no matter how hot a day, it's always cool to paint there! As is the case of many of our historical sites, deciding what to paint from the myriad choices offered is always a problem for me. Yesterday the mighty baobab standing guard next to the factory ruins became my subject choice while Jan painted the other old baobab near the caretaker's cottage. Leslie, Elwin, Carolyn, and Pat captured the tiny stone caretaker's cottage with their watercolors. The blossoming flamboyant enamored Brenda, Kerri and Carolyn, while Emy and Roz focused on designs they saw in the factory's ruins. Show and Tell was followed by lunch, again for only 4 of us, at Turtles.

Palletteers Paint at Chenay

After more than a week of heavy rains accompanied by lots of thunder and flooding, I arrived at Chenay Bay beach resort with my fingers AND my toes crossed in hopes that Friday's weather forecast of only occasional showers was accurate. It was difficult to tell: the skies were overcast and the sun was NOT shining as brightly as we like when we paint. Only a few of us showed up.. we all congregated on a little patio with a few umbrellas that'd been developed for special gatherings and had a great view of a bridge and pond near the cottages. We got permission to raise the giant umbrellas so we'd have protection from the now emerging sun and any showers that might decide to come down. Suddenly we noticed Chenay's newest addition to their site: a pair of what I originally thought were ducks but the staff told us were geese: Romeo and Juliet. Although they wouldn't pose for us, we found them to be quite photogenic, captivating, and not too afraid of us Palletteers. So we painted in the shade of those umbrellas, distracted occasionally by the antics of the swimming geese, cooled by sporadic strong gusts of wind. Best of all, there was absolutely no rain! There were only a few of us.. our numbers are really diminishing.. so we adjourned early for our show and tell followed by lunch at Mahi's.

Palletteers at the Schreibers

We've had such a nice change in our weather! Though it's still pretty changeable, the suffocating heatwave we'd had for so long has finally been replaced by some cooler breezes. Sudden short rain showers, more like gales, have been interspersed with light drizzles, with an accompanying rainbow or two, if we're lucky! Preludes to some tropical waves heading our way early next week. As tropical island dwellers, we love the rain; as Palletteers, we always cross our fingers that it won't rain on Friday mornings and interrupt our plein air sessions. This past Friday morning we were blessed: the sun shone brightly and nary a sprinkle interrupted a great morning of painting at the Schreiber's South Shore home. Some ruins near the property caught the eye of two of our members.

The rest of us sojourned to the covered porch and enjoyed the sea breezes and guaranteed shade while executing our masterpieces.








Show and tell enticed some visitors to drop by and view our efforts.. notice how big "little" Henry is getting!
Lunch for (only) four followed at the new Flat Iron Grill where we all were impressed with our selections.

Palletteers Paint at Johnson's

This past Friday we headed West, beyond Frederiksted again, to the home of Carol and Owen Johnson. As we admired their flowers, Carol pointed out the buds of the night-blooming cereus cactus dotting their property. Carol said the buds would be in full bloom at 10PM and invited any of us who were interested to return then to view them. She told us that this isn't an annual happening and that the last time they bloomed, she went out and took photos, stopping after snapping her 200th bloom! Imagine!
It was such a hot, airless day that being out of the sun was almost painful! Most of us lined ourselves up in the driveway's shade and painted florals. Of course, once we got into the painting of our artworks, we tuned out the heat and had a blissful morning!












After Show and Tell, our hostess joined us for lunch at Sunset Grill where we discussed politics (much to the amusement of a gentleman sitting at a nearby table:^) and Elizabeth's recent watercolor workshop in Tuscany! Ooh la la! Next June the workshop will probably be in Provence with a different artist and from what she told us about the one she'd attended, we all want to go!