What a beautiful Spring morning for painting at the Nature Conservancy! The air was clear and crisp, the breeze was slight, and the day was sunny. Visibility was wonderful! We were inspired, and our paintings surely show it. Carolyn's son Jeff joined us to paint too. Can you tell which is his?
We made the Avis yesterday! There was a great feature article on page 5 written by Stephanie Hanlon.
This morning a good sized group of us met to paint at Butler Bay, north of Frederiksted. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning that passed all too quickly. What a tranquil place! If I could judge by all the "oohs" and "aahs" I heard, I'd say it was a great painting experience for everyone! 
I'd predicted that painting on the Christiansted boardwalk would be a unique experience and I was right! Everyone enjoyed our morning of painting there so much that I immediately received many requests for a repeat performance.. so that will definitely happen. The morning brought some unpredictable weather and we all got sprinkled on a few times, but that's part of the challenge of painting on location, isn't it? I've included photos of the "Palletteers in action" as well as some of the finished products.
Art In the Garden 
About 6:15 Friday morning I looked at the weather. It did not look promising! But this is St. Croix and we all know that the weather can go from rain to sunshine within minutes. In fact, it can be raining cats and dogs a mile away and be clear and sunny wherever you might be. Besides that, the Palletteers paint, rain or shine, right? So, good Palletteer that I am, I packed all my 'stuff" into my car and headed east to Chenay Bay around 8:15. When I arrived, the wind was still gusting 30-40 MPH and a very slight mist was in the air.. so I got out of my car to walk around to do a site inspection. By the time 9 o'clock rolled around, I'd been joined by a few others and we all decided to stay and give it a try. Some set up in the restaurant area, some in the bar area, and some in the reception area. I was the only one who decided to set up on the beach itself. The surf at Chenay was quite strong and the winds continued to be chilly and gusty. The sky was a prussian blue, the sea a churning turquoise, and the clouds ominous. But kids came out onto the beach .. their mother plopped onto a lounge chair with a book, customers breakfasted in the restaurant... and Palletteers painted. Personally, I was on a "winning streak': my thumbnail sketch was good for value and composition, the drawing on my canvas went well, and my oil colors were looking good. I quickly painted in my sky... brimming with clouds. Then I mixed my colors for Green Cay and brushed them on. I got halfway finished painting my sea when a gale took me by surprise! Luckily I'd brought my golf umbrella which I used to protect my palette and my painting. The wind gusts were so strong, though, that the rain outmaneuvered me and I watched helplessly as puddles formed on my palette and raindrops bubbled on my canvas. I must have hung onto that umbrella, fighting the wind, for at least half an hour! I was soaked from my waist down and cold all over when the rain finally lessened to a drizzle. I dumped my water soaked palette into my trash bag, grabbed my painting, and ran to find a dry place to put it. After returning to pack up my easel and stuff and dragging it all back to pack into my car, I was super soaked! What about all those Palletteers who'd found a covered place to paint? They were chilled but dry, busily painting away! See our painting conditions and some of their results in the photos above.
