Door County Plein Air

The Door County plein air festival is one of the largest events for painters in the country, and is only a few hours from my home. This was my first year participating and I had a really good time overall at the event. Dan Corey came out from Maine and we stayed at a pretty unbelievable place, the By the Bay in Fish Creek. The digs were right across the street from where the paintout happened, so there were no worries of trying to get there and park etc.

The weather on the morning of the event was pretty dramatic. There was a sliver of yellow sky below some looming storm clouds. I thought it might rain. Some artists were mixing colors on their palettes or sketching on their canvas before the horn went off to open the event, but I don't know if it helped them because the sun came out about a half hour into the paintout.

I had painted around the area the day before, and the water was much calmer. One onlooker who saw my painting from the first day, and the piece pictured above said that I dropped the ball in the contest, she liked the smooth and sunny water better than the choppy stuff that I captured in the contest. Well, opinions aside, the water was pretty choppy, and dark, that morning and I'm not out there to paint postcards.

Overall a good event. I think that for Dan and I to go out there and give our best efforts added some variety to the mix of what went on display that evening. I can't wait for next year!