I am totally addicted
to Plein Air painting now! I was at the Caribbean island of Curaçao for some
weeks. February 27th to March 7th I joined the Plein Air
Curaçao Festival. This festival is there every two years. Yes, I was there two
years ago too. But this time was even better!
the yellow house of Fleur de Marie
It’s so nice to be
with a group of artists together, doing what you like most: painting. You all
paint the same view, but everyone does it in his or her own way. Your styles
are different and you use different materials. The materials we used were: oil,
acrylics, watercolours and pastel. This time I wasn’t the only watercolourist.
view from Klein Santa Martha
Some of the artists
are used to visit Plein Air events, mostly in the USA. Others are studio
painters, not used to the way of ‘plein air’. The advanced plein air painters
know how to work fast, to finish their painting in about two hours. For others
that is difficult. But we learn from each other.
view from the boat at Fuik
After the festival was
over, I stayed at Curaçao for some more weeks. I did some more painting.
Because then the Plein Air Galley was closed, I made them having in mind
selling at an art fair in the Netherlands. I did my best to make some ‘nice
tropical watercolours’.
bird's cage in the garden
Now I’m back in the
Netherlands, I want to go on painting ‘plein air’. But usually the weather here
is not so nice. Often it rains, you can’t go sit outdoors whenever you want. I
was so happy we had some really nice spring days last week! So I painted my own
neighbourhood using the paint that was still on my palette from Curaçao!
my neighbourhood in Meppel (the Netherlands)
