Door County Plein Air Invitational 2011

After three vigorous weeks of plein air invitationals here in Colorado, I drove 21.5 hours to the Door County Peninsula of Wisconsin. The Peninsula extends nearly 100 miles in to Lake Michigan and is very scenic. The coastline on both sides has numerous little villages with fishing communities, harbor scenes, and beaches. The land in between is dotted with homesteads, farms and rolling hillsides. A true painters paradise, the locals call the “Cape Cod of the Midwest.”

I almost got to the Peninsula School of Art, the benefactor and organizer of the festival, and within 500 feet of the school, my xterra/mobile studio broke down at a stop sign.  My hazard lights not working either, I had to get out of my truck in order to notify the person behind me that I was no longer mobile. I expected an impatient person ready to swerve around me and continue on his hurried way, but instead was faced with some very nice Wisconsin hospitality. The guy, already late for work, and justifiably could have been the person I expected, immediately got out of his car to see if there was anything he might be able to help with. The pile of cars was starting to stack up behind us, and the third guy behind me also got out of his truck to help. Within 30 seconds of being stalled out, I had two psudo-mechanics and myself looking under the hood for what could be wrong. Nothing appeared to be out of place or broken, later it was diagnosed to have broken a timing belt. I thought to myself, it could be worse, this could have happened during the 1500 mile trip that I blazed through the last two days, and I could be stranded out in Nebraska, Iowa, or some place in Western Wisconsin. The mobile studio had to then be towed to the nearest mechanic to be looked in to.

Luckily my host family, the Connelys, let me borrow their extra car. This was a large Ford f150 that I think got about 3 gallons per mile, and thereby increased my carbon footprint for the week. But I wasn’t complaining, just having some fun at my expense. I had to get some pizza boxes to haul around wet paintings for the week so I wouldn’t get paint on the interior of the beast. It all worked out, though and I was thankfu to be up and painting.

This is one of the premier events in the country and I had a blast. The group of artists was exceptional, even unbelievable. I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know many of them, and anxiously await next year. I hope to be re-invited as I sold well for this festival, and took an award of merit at the opening night.

Below is the entire body of work from the week, for availability, if it doesn’t say SOLD when you roll over the image and stop, then it’s available.

ENJOY!

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