Skies remained clear yesterday for the Ohio Plein Air Society artists, who came from across Ohio to capture Athens in its first blush of spring.
This was the second year OPAS hosted Paint the Cherry Blossoms
said Jeff Risner, the president of OPAS. The group is hoping to make it a permanent annual event.
Painters from outside Ohio also joined the OPAS group. Pam Turnbow, a member of the Indiana Plein Air Painters from Columbia City, Ind., has been painting with OPAS for about five years.
Athens has a fun artist community and very pretty places to paint, said Turnbow, who has spent the last ten years as a professional painter.
With outdoor painting you only have about two good hours of painting because the light changes Risner said.
Athens is a great place to paint. There's a lot of choices; a lot of interesting locations said Kit Dailey, a painter from Jackson, Ohio.
Founded in 2002, OPAS is dedicated to the education
awareness and advancement of fine art painting in the plein air tradition
according to its Web site.
The plein painting movement was about the lack of limitations of the artist. Plein, a French word, is often misused to mean plain to describe a simple landscape, Risner said. Plein air painting is about fullness and everything that has to do with life, he added. You're trying to capture a scene of life and everything in that scene.
OPAS does have some guidelines about where artists set up their easels, and they don't all involve the visual elements.
You want somewhere that's safe
Risner said. You don't want dogs attacking you or anything. And you want somewhere with a public restroom or a restaurant.
Dailey, a former elementary school teacher, lived in Athens for 24 years and subbed in the Athens City School District. Although she mainly does studio work, Dailey began painting with watercolors 15 years ago. She is a board member of the Ohio Watercolor Society.
My stuff is often a little crazy and unusual
said Dailey, who has a painting titled, Plaid Cow Disease. I paint fanciful things.
Watercolor is the hardest medium - it's not very forgiving. You can easily wipe away oil
she added.
Normally
I use oils outside
but today they just seemed too stiff
OPAS painter Lee Fritch said. Fritch, who was a research engineer before he retired, set up his easel by Whites Mill to paint the river.
The water's kind of muddy now. We try to avoid mud like the plague
