Palletteers paint at Tamarind Reef

I always seem to begin a new blog post with a comment on our weather, so I decided that since you already know that our weather is great, I'd start this posting with a different observation: A plein air artist must always be prepared. Ok, we all know we have to remember our paints, mixes, paper or canvas, etc .. and I have to confess to having arrived with no white paint.. a "no no" for an oil painter. Since we often return to paint at a site where we've painted before, many of us arrive there with certain expectations. For instance, on Friday one of our artists planned to complete a painting she'd begun before. When she arrived she found out that the subject of her painting, a kind of landmark at Tamarind, was COMPLETELY gone! Has this happened to you, too? Another surprise on Friday was to find the picnic tables that are ALWAYS on their beach, gone too! This caused a major problem with one of the artists because she had nothing to work on, so ended up leaving.

Otherwise, Friday morning went well. Everyone who stayed produced a nice painting. I'd gone there planning to finish a painting I'd begun in May at the yacht club (so, no, Tamarind Reef doesn't have a bunch of boats moored off their beach). I'd needed to finish my masts and sails.. and wanted to look at the boats in Green Cay marina to make sure I did it correctly. After seeing everyone's artwork, we had a lovely lunch with great service at the Deep End Bar and Grill. With tourist season around the corner, during lunch we discussed upcoming exhibiting opportunities, the benifits of framing or not framing our artwork, and various ways to hang unframed watercolors. Everyone was urged to start separating their artwork now according to what "show" it will be in, make sure they have enough hanging hardware for it all, purchase what hardware they need, and also think about artwork that they might want to contribute for some of the charities on island.

If you haven't read my post about the artistree (that is located below this entry), please make sure you do.

Ginger