Last night was the opening reception for our exhibit, "Maritime Inspirations: En Plein Air." This culminated my week, in which I painted two days in Saint John (NB) with the group and taught a three-day workshop for the Saint John Arts Centre. I was pretty tired by the time the reception rolled around and then I had to give an impromptu speech in front of 100 people or so, including the city's Cultural Affairs Director and other Saint John "movers and shakers"!
Our show was one of four exhibits that opened simultaneously with a joint reception. I didn't envy the Arts Centre staff this week. Our exhibit alone has 81 paintings in it. The staff really hustled to get walls spackled, paintings hung, labels made and catalogs printed. But the show looked wonderful. If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to do so. I'll include a few photos of the exhibit below. (And thank you to the artists who were able to make the reception, and to David and Sandra Reeves, who were my hosts.)
The "Michael Chesley Johnson Wall"
Main Floor of the Saint John Arts Centre
Weather was fickle this week, so my students didn't get out to paint as much as we'd have liked. However, this did allow us to cover a lot of ground in the studio. There are some topics that really are better covered in a controlled environment. But Friday couldn't have had more perfect weather. We spent the entire day at the Irving Nature Park where the lupines were blooming in full force.
