This is a chain letter from most of the artists that participated in the Epcot Plein Air paintout in March 2014.
I wrote:
Hi guys, I thought it might be fun to post one little memory and your favorite piece you created in this thread, since we all didn't get to visit each other too much at the actual painting sites. It was so much fun meeting and painting with you all. I'll start
Ruth Vines
as usual, great fun. You all are so nice, and I love chitchatting with you.
My favorite moment was when a 7-year old girl came up to me and told me about her painting ventures, and when her mom pulled up her artwork on her iphone to show me, I was surprised to see she actually sits outside and paints plein air (without knowing the term). She was on the balcony of their apartment and painted the fountain in the middle of the pond with exuberant colors. She was very sweet to talk to. I told her mom to keep at it and keep getting her good art supplies.
Attached is my favorite piece I created there on the last day, on the bridge from France to Great Britain. (Crossing into Spring). I did 3 larger pieces altogether.
Barbara Perotti
My favorite time was when a young girl came to me wanting to learn all about painting. I noticed her birthday pin and gave her a painting lesson as a gift explaining everything I was doing. Her parents were so thrilled they tried to pay me.... I just laughed and said I wanted her to have something special to remember on her big day.
The photo below is from a couple who asked if they could take my picture.... they caught me in the middle of a painting.
Steve Andrews
On the day of the rain I had my watercolors out and was doing little 5 x 7 figure studies of people walking with umbrellas. One of them was of a man and women and a child and the woman's dress made her look a bit like Mary Poppins. I put a straight brim hat her and she really looked like Mary. I gave it to the real Mary Poppins the next day as she was walking to her spot to meet children. She was very nice and thankful and I said as she left "I hope you enjoy it Mary Poppins." At her next appointed time she stopped and handed me a note and said "thank you for my very nice painting". "My pleasure Mary Poppins". The note is on a shelf in my studio right now.
The red daisies were jumping at me. The photos not great.
Charles Schaefer
My most memorable experience this week end>
The children coming around are the most fun part of this event, I had an 8 year old tell me the history of pointillism. She knew more about the history of art then I did... she was quite nice to me when she knew she was teaching me and said " but I cannot paint like you " with this big beautiful smile. Yes, she made the week end for me. And, YES, I did give her a small painting bookmark to take home.
Trish Vevera
Being my first time at Epcot, I was unsure as to what to expect. I did mostly watercolor and crayon/wax/pencil drawings to be used as studies for future larger paintings. At the beginning of this study I was asked how I did what I did. I was showing a family-mother, father, son--and explaining my procedure. I said I sectioned off each colored area and filled in the colors as needed. I just "scribbled" in the color and then used the water to spread it to create different values. I sectioned off red and asked the son to scribble in the color; he scribbled alright--- all over the page. His mother about died!! I said not to worry, I can fix it. Perhaps you can see some stray red marks and a pink cast to this drawing/watercolor. I enjoyed my experience at Epcot (except the rainy Sat afternoon) and will be better prepared for future endeavors.
Olena Babak
Hello All,
I have been traveling a lot this past month and Epcot was one of my
favorite destinations on the "traveling artist" road. It has been so
wonderful to have a chance to meet all of the artists and people who
made it possible for us to take a part in the Garden Festival.
Looking back now I can't help but to smile about all of the beautiful
flowers that graced the countries and people that came through and
enjoyed the food and the festivities of the park.
I really enjoyed the time spent talking to people, answering their
questions and listening to their stories. It is so rewarding to know
that what you do is appreciated and even inspiring to some.
One of my favorite visitors was a girl, probably around 10 years old,
with her mother who chatted with me right up to the beginning of the
storm we had. The little girl has set her mind on being an architect
and was telling me all about the style of the buildings in Canada.
She named them as Chateaux and Gothic Revival and also explained to me
all about the Haida houses and villages. In the end she picked up a
few paintings of the buildings I did and she complimented me on
capturing their style. I was thrilled to hear this from such an
educated and bright young lady.
I was grateful to have a chance to connect with someone so young that
shared my interests in architecture and art.
Charles Dickinson
Hi everybody, I have such good memories of this year's paint out. It was great to see
everyone. One of my favorite moments was an 11 year old boy with his family from
Michigan who loved art and drew constantly. For a half an hour we discussed our interest
in art. I mentioned to him when I was his age I drew so much and held onto the pencil so
tight I would get calluses on my index finger. He said he gets that too and showed me the
bump on his index finger. It's an artist thing I said. He was a wonderful boy, I wish him all
the joy drawing can bring.
Life has been one very difficult episode after another since my return home. If only i could live at Epcot and paint all the time, stay at the hotel we were privileged to stay in, eat the delicious foods prepared for us and do my favorite thing, paint all day. I felt like Cinderella returning to reality from the castle.
As a newby, everything about the entire event was spectacular. Yes even the storm - we got to eat more food and get to know each other better!!!
Talking to all the children was very special indeed but one situation really topped it off for me. One of my dear friend's daughter was celebrating her 25th birthday at Epcot and she came by to see me. It was a very special time because she had art scholarships from high school and did't do much with them. She was so excited to see what I do and I spent some good quality time encouraging her to get back to her art career. I think she will follow through with this. Hopefully so!!!
Miss y'all and look forward to painting with y'all again! Kathleen
Randy Pitts
Thanks for being patient. The story that stuck out from my three days happened on the first day. I was painting the cart with the donkey in Italy, it's a gelato stand I think, when a family with a son and a daughter came up to look. They asked if they could look, and of course I agreed. It became apparent quickly that the mother was either an artist or an art teacher because she was describing in detail to her daughter exactly my approach to the painting. The cool thing was the daughter was following along, and knew what her Mom was talking about. We chatted for a few minutes and I asked the girl liked to draw and paint, and she said "everything". It's nice to know there are still parents willing to give a kid the gift of art. I have to say the kids are all very enthused when they get to look at what you are doing. It really is a privilege to paint in front of them because they are genuinely fascinated with the process.
Randy
Here are two from the weekend
Cathy Berse
Good Morning Ruth,
Sorry this took so long to get to you. It has been crazy busy here. But here goes......I love coming to Epcot because of the kids. Their smiles, and enthusiasm are contagious. Painting with all of you also ranks right up there. I sold a piece to a family who told me the day before they would come back because they had dinner reservations that night . I was very pleased to see that the next day they did come back. They bought the piece for their daughter who was about 10. I had a little 2 x 2 inch canvas and told her she could paint a little piece for her very own also. I let her use my paints and explained plein air and oil paints.
I got a big smile in return .....it was great!
love and hugs, Cathy
Bob Harper
Greetings to my fellow plein air expatriates! I must say that this event was a Magical time! As one of my plein air instructors expressed to me with exuberance over three decades ago, "your not just experiencing the subject your painting, your experiencing Everything around you, and it will come out in your painting"! This quote was as true as ever as I was enjoying the atmosphere of Epcot, especially after months of painting in Solitude in the mountains with four foot of snow on the ground!
I loved being around fellow artists and I greatly enjoyed painting at Epcot and visiting with all the people that liked to watch and visit while I painted. I had several families with children that stopped to watch and I would ask the kids if they painted. Many said they did and some said they didn't but one day wanted to paint! On many occasions I would show them how to hold a brush and let them paint some flowers on the canvas. Needless to say they were thrilled!
The United Kingdom was as great place to paint! Besides being a pretty place to paint the British band would play several times a day and Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins would stop by to see my progress! How many plein air painters can say they had a visit from Alice or Mary Poppins while they painted!
Bob Harper
Thank you all for sending me paintings and stories! Hope to see everybody next year!
Ruth
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