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| The ponds almost didn't look real - super undisturbed reflections. Bet they'll be hard to paint! |
Ok, so this morning I donned my Mickey Mouse earrings, filled my Mickey Mouse glass with some water (both thanks to Carolyn 😘) and hoped that they would inspire me to write something that you'll all find enjoyable to read. Ok, let's see what antics the artists were up to this day.
Suzette and I arrived early and found Betty waiting in her car. She hopped out and Cathy and Lisa soon arrived.
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| Lisa. Betty, Cathy, Suzette Note: All have their hands covered and tucked |
Yes, it was cold to start, of course, you'd never realize that by looking at Betty🥶. After all, she did have sunglasses on.
Some more showed up - here's Mike & Mike's Mug (one of these days he's going to have to smile -- oh wait, I was referring to his coffee mug - never mind).
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| Mike, Mike's Mug |
Along came Tecla and look at the truck next to her -- it belongs to one of the workers that was there blowing the leaves in the parking lot. I'll tell you a little something about him below.
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| Tecla, Truck for city worker |
As we arrived we all started parking in a row next to one another near the edge of the path. Apparently that was where they had been blowing the leaves. We clearly weren't paying attention to that but as one more car pulled up to that area, he yelled "Awww, come on!!!". We looked at him a little bewildered and then saw the big pile of leaves. Well, we didn't harm them or disburse them any and when we returned later they were gone, so it must've worked out ok. Guess he was just fearful that he wasn't going to have space to work and clearly expected the parking lot to be completely empty. Well, he just didn't know about Plein Air Tuesday!
Kristen showed up, she's sort of the "New Girl". Although she did paint with us once a long time ago during a summer month. She came to us through Tecla and her Birding group which a few of the artists are all part of (not sure exactly who). Oh, and then Bob came along smiling as always!
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| (L to R) Tecla, Kristen, Lisa, Suzette, Bob |
So, in looking at a the photo it looks like Tecla and Kristen were comparing shoe sizes ?? and if you look close you'll see that Bob is smiling, of course, so was everyone else.
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| Look inside the car and you can see Carolyn leaning in |
Carolyn was the last to arrive, at least at this parking lot anyway (gee, I wonder who might show up later, hmmm 🤔).
Ok, here's a little aside ... Took a break to go for a walk in the neighborhood and these 3 nosey neighbors were hanging out looking over the wall (from the inside mind you) in a neighbor's yard just staring at us as we walked past, they didn't even say hello!
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| Just checking out who's walking in the neighborhood |
Aren't they funny! Oh, and there were 4 more waiting to cross the street.
Ok, back to Plein Air Tuesday.
We did pile into various pass holders' vehicles and headed down to Dead Horse Ranch. Here's where you get to see a better picture of Carolyn who is once again carrying all her stuff separately.
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| (L to R) Tecla, Carolyn & her stuff, Kristen |
As you saw above, the ponds were really showing off -- see, here's another one.
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| I swear the reflection is clearer and more vibrant than the actual! |
We had people wandering all over the place.
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| Lisa doing something on her phone |
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| Carolyn - the great debate "what spot do I want" |
We had a few crossing paths -- it does make the park look inviting doesn't it. You also have to look in the far background on the left and you'll see someone who is already settled in.
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| (L to R) Kristen, Cathy, Tecla and then far background on the left is Mike |
Mike is the one that's already set up in his spot. Guess he showed up with a predetermined spot in mind. In case you think I'm mistaken on who that might be, here's a closer look. See same pile of stuff to his left.
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| Mike from a different angle |
Betty's spot wasn't far from Mike
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| (L to R) Betty, across the pond are people, Ducks, Mike |
Here's a close up of some of the occupants of the above photo.
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| You weren't expecting people were you? |
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| Betty |
Oh, by the way -- they're noisy and they stayed near us the whole morning - that's the ducks, not Betty. Guess they were thinking we had food in those bags we carry.
And, high on the hill ...
It was Carolyn and Cathy.
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| Carolyn, Cathy |
So, it turns out that Cathy was busy showing Carolyn paintings that she's done in her studio of birds -- I believe that Cathy is one of the Birders. The paintings were really amazing -- sorry, I don't have pictures of them, but you'll have to ask Cathy to show them to you herself next time you see her.
Here are Lisa & Suzette in their spots, each looking at different ponds.
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| (L to R) Some random guy who was walking a dog, Lisa, Suzette |
We had a few bench sitters not too far from Carolyn.
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| (L to R) Tecla, Kristen |
From this spot they heard a lot of birds and Kristen would call out the name of the type of bird while she painted. I'm sure all the passers by thought that was umm, interesting?? Picture it, all of a sudden you hear someone shout out "Yellow Rumped Warbler" as you walk past - oh dear, well it did make the people pass by quickly looking just a bit worried, at least that meant they weren't in the way of their painting.
Then way down at the other side of the lower pond I spotted someone that looked like they were painting.
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| Someone hunched over (must be tall) painting |
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| Bob in his spot |
That's right, it was Bob - I had to hike to get that picture of him.
Oh, that leads me to that reference I made early on - you know the one where I said "Carolyn was the last to arrive, at least at this parking lot anyway" -- guess who I got a text from:
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| Text from Nita - note the time! |
Yes, Nita arrived at a different location not far from where we were - timestamp: 9:39.
Before we knew it, finished or not, our time was up. We used the same bench as last week and built our gallery. Mike did some creative hanging!
Nita did come by as promised and we all stood around and chatted while studying everyone's paintings. Questions were asked, positive comments were made and then we gathered together and smiled on 2.
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| Mike, Suzette, Kristen, Lisa, Carolyn, Tecla, Cathy, Betty, Nita, Bob, Me |
What a happy group and while the park is a real pretty place, I'm going with my comment from above. It's not an easy place to paint, but hey a challenge is always good, right?
Hope to see you next week!
Cecilia