Paint Out at the Lighthouse

For the past few years the Wet Paints Studio Group in Sayville(of which I am a member) has organized a paint out at the Fire Island Lighthouse on Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. This morning I headed over to Robert Moses State Park where the lighthouse stands. Although it was beautiful and sunny, it was very windy which made painting outdoors a bit difficult. You need to come prepared to mat, frame, and hang your paintings, so I had lots of materials with me.

I started out in the parking lot near the dunes. I parked so that my car was blocking most of the wind with a view of the dune foliage and the lighthouse. I had a frame that would fit a 5 x 12 inch painting without a mat, so I painted that exact size making sure I painted to the very ends of the paper.

Next I decided to brave the elements and head over near the lighthouse where I was sure some of the other artists would be working. I have a shopping cart and I put all my framing materials in it, my lunch, and hung my chair on the outside. I decided it was too windy to bother dragging my easel. There is a nice boardwalk that leads from the parking lot over to the lighthouse with a walk that is about 0.8 miles one way. There were quite a few other artists painting from the deck by the lens house since the building was blocking some of the wind. I set up looking toward the ocean and painted with the painting board held tightly in my lap. This painting is 5 x 7. 

The paintings are hung in the lens house building next to the lighthouse and will be on display and for sale until June 10th. I took the completed paintings inside to frame them. The panoramic one went well, but I dropped the glass for the second frame. I spent a while picking up all the glass shards...especially the tiny ones since there are so many people who walk around there in flip flops or barefoot. Luckily I had a spare frame that was the correct size. I had hoped to do a third painting but the only other frame was for an 8 x 10 painting and I didn't really have the time to work on a bigger one.

Here is a photo of the paintings that were completed and hung before I left. Mine are the top left and third one down on the left. Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day so I am sure there will be more artists participating then. I am heading into NYC so I won't be joining them.