I was asked to participate this year in an event called the Winter Park Paint Out.The event will be happening between April 23 and April 30th. During this week plein air painters will set up all around Winter Park to paint. I will report on this unique event with my usual sketches. To promote the event, the Polasek Museum hosted a poster competition with the winning entry getting $1000. I was invited to the opening reception where all the plein air paintings were on exhibit. In the corner of the room an easel was set up and draped with a while sheets.The finished poster was hidden and would be United when the time was right.
I decided I couldn’t set up in the man gallery without sitting in front of someones painting. Even I am not that rude. So I went outside to the gorgeous gardens and decided to take an outsider’s view of the proceedings. An Albin Polesek bronze sculpture of Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio quietly and stoically held its vigil as the sun set. Patrons from last years Paint Out were invited to the reception to meet the artists who would be painting this year.
Don Sandag came out to say hello. I first met Don back when I worked at Disney Feature Animation. Don came to the studio to run painting workshops in the evening back then. He told me he looks forward to the Paint Out each year because artists were pampered and treated like Rock Stars. Mary Hill and her boyfriend Berto Ortega were inside. Berto is a painter originally from New York City. Mary and another painter mugged at me through the window making me laugh. By the time the poster winter was announced, the sun had set and the cool, blue dusk light darkened Saint Francis. I heard the wave of applause as the winner was announced. I threw down my last water color washes and rushed inside. Don Sondag’s painting of the Polasek statue, “Mother” had won.
Afterward a group of artists remained. Larry Moore was discussing the idea that artists should make a percentage any time one of their paintings is resold. Don joked that this idea might backfire if the work was sold for less than the initial price, for instance at a garage sale. I spoke to the editor of Winter Park Magazine about using my sketches as a way to report on this years event. Getting to meet all these amazing artists is going to be a thrill. I am bound to learn a thing or two.