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Any artist who paints en pleinair has heard of the granddaddy of all the competitions, Pleinair Easton. I say it's the "biggie" because it was one of the earliest, (it's in it's 10th year) and the prize money is amazing ($10,000 first prize).  When artist, Karen Crenshaw extended an invitation with a place to stay to a group of fellow painters, I knew it was an opportunity not to be missed. We quickly researched the event and found that for a small fee, we could participate in the "Quick Draw Competition". Approximately, 200 artists found a special scene to paint in the downtown area of Easton, Maryland on Saturday morning and had 2 hours to complete a pleinair painting, frame it and put it on display.

Karen, Gale Smith, Joanne Geisel and I traveled to the eastern shore of Maryland on Thursday and spent Friday exploring and looking for the perfect spot to paint. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed to town to claim our piece of the sidewalk to paint what we found inspiring. Fortunately, the weather was perfect and not terribly hot. At 10 o'clock, a horn blew and we set to work. I focused on a charming house with a porch but the star of my painting would be the American flag. Spectators stopped by to visit and chat. I was painting alongside Gale who chose a purple door to paint. She drew quite a crowd. The time went by quickly and at noon, another horn signaled the end of the competition. We hurried back to the car to frame our works and then to the main street to display them for judging and sale. 2 of our group sold their paintings and we all enjoyed talking to the other artists and seeing the incredible work created that week. Hats off to Easton for the wonderful, organized and welcoming event!

For 2 more days, we painted in quaint towns on the Chesapeake Bay, ate our fill of blue crabs and thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to the eastern shore of Maryland!

Through the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, I was honored to be invited to paint local historic properties. A group of pleinair painters met for 6 weeks and through the generousity of the property owners, captured some stunning, historic locations along Wrightsville Sound. One of the places we were invited to was the fairytale farm that we all drive by on the way to the beach. The red barns and outbuildings are like something out of a fairytale. The property owner generously told us the history of the farm and allowed us to capture it (complete with horses) on canvas.

The Latimer House had a show and reception of this work and now some of these special paintings are on exhibit at the Dixie Grill on Market St. Be sure to check it out if you are in the area.

A big thank you to Heather (Latimer House) for arranging the locations and the show and reception, to Joanne for coordinating with Heather and the Dixie Grill and to the generous property owners for sharing your special places with us.