The great weather we enjoyed on our way east continued as we moved into Ohio for our final workshop on this trip. Lima, Ohio, is a quiet little town with lots of scenic farms for painters, and it is also headquarters for the famous Kewpee Hamburger chain. Ruth Ann Sturgill, our host for the workshop, made sure that Kewpee's was one of our first stops upon our arrival. Kewpee's would make a good subject for painting.
The weather was warm, which guaranteed a continuation of the beautiful spring we saw in Illinois and Indiana. One of my demonstrations was of Ruth Ann's beautiful spirea, blooming in the shade.
Spirea in Spring, 9x12, oil (sold)
In our two days, we got a surprising amount of painting done. Our second day ended with a storm, so I did a painting knife demonstration indoors. The students followed by doing some knife painting of their own, using a still life composed of lilacs for a subject.
We enjoyed Lima so much that we're planning on another workshop there next year. And since we also enjoyed our workshops in Illinois and Indiana, we're going to repeat the same route!
The rain we saw on our last afternoon was part of a bigger storm, which we are now chasing east. Or, perhaps it is chasing us. We drove 10 hours in heavy rain today, and it looks like we'll have more as we work our way toward Vermont. Vermont's Champlain Valley is under a flood warning as Lake Champlain works its way up to record levels. We've already learned of one major road being closed.
