Sackets Harbor, NY hosted a great plein air festival in mid July this year and I was luck enough to attend. The town and harbor are very picturesque with loads of old historic buildings, boats in every shape and size, friendly people and a very artsy main street.
I decided to camp to save some money, and my son and his girlfriend joined me at Wescott Beach State Park. The weather started out very hot and humid, making me thrill every time I had to get into my air conditioned car to drive someplace. However, the weather changed drastically when a cold front came through in the wee hours of Friday night, scaring the day-lights out of us as the storm slammed into the eastern end of Lake Ontario, bringing incredible thunder, lightning, wind and rain. Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to bolster the poles on the tent earlier in the day or I would have been sleeping in the car because the tent never would have survived. By the way, although Wescott Beach is a very nice park, the camping area is more like a parking lot than a camping area. The sites are too close together, right on the park road and with no buffer of any kind between sites. We were literally right on top of our drunk neighbors who were up too late, who spent the rest of their time shooting off fireworks (illegally, of course) and swearing at the throngs of kids they had brought along for the "fun". But I digress...
Back to painting.
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| "Cascading Colors" 9x12 |
The town is very scenic and I managed to get 3 descent paintings done. Although 3 isn't a lot, I was pretty happy with it considering never having been there before and the whole camping experience. I did spend a lot of time sight-seeing. I also had a very nice time going out to dinner with a group of other Rochester artists who had come to paint in the festival, talking to the locals and taking in the scenery. Here are the paintings and photos of the scenes that inspired them.
I would definitely do this festival again. Not so sure about camping though, but then again, you never know.
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| "Haybales at Dusk" 9x12 |
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| "Parade Watchers" 9x12 |
I decided to camp to save some money, and my son and his girlfriend joined me at Wescott Beach State Park. The weather started out very hot and humid, making me thrill every time I had to get into my air conditioned car to drive someplace. However, the weather changed drastically when a cold front came through in the wee hours of Friday night, scaring the day-lights out of us as the storm slammed into the eastern end of Lake Ontario, bringing incredible thunder, lightning, wind and rain. Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to bolster the poles on the tent earlier in the day or I would have been sleeping in the car because the tent never would have survived. By the way, although Wescott Beach is a very nice park, the camping area is more like a parking lot than a camping area. The sites are too close together, right on the park road and with no buffer of any kind between sites. We were literally right on top of our drunk neighbors who were up too late, who spent the rest of their time shooting off fireworks (illegally, of course) and swearing at the throngs of kids they had brought along for the "fun". But I digress...
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