Ft. Myers "Paint the Beach" Event

I recently attended the annual plein air "Paint the Beach" event in Ft. Myers Beach, Florida with my friend, Denise Broussard.  Our hubbies stayed home to take care of our puppies and we headed for our beach adventure.

The painting event was a week long and included 3 days of painting plus a quick draw competition. The weeks events began with a "Meet and Greet" reception at Nervous Nellies Bar and Grill.

Day 1 - We decided on shrimp boats, go figure.  While checking out the docked shrimp boats the day before we met the captain of the Pirates Sons (black and white boat below) who offered us the opportunity to sit and paint from their boat deck the next day as the crew would be off, sweet.

We showed up next morning, set up and painted. The bay winds were brutal.  I tried putting up my umbrella but that was hopeless, although I did manage to crank out a painting.

Here I am painting from the stern of the boat.

Day 2 - We headed to Ascension Catholic Church grounds.  We started the day by attending the 8 a.m. mass in the chapel of the San Damiano Monastery of St. Clare on the church grounds then setup outside to paint the church.  The church and grounds were beautiful!  It was a very pleasant day of painting with no winds to battle.

Day 3 - We headed for the beach to paint.  We had a few hiccups like where to tie down the umbrella, volley ball nets and wind, but I was pleased at my end result.  Did you know sand does not stick to a brush with turp on it... lol

Day 4 - This day was turn in your paintings and the gala reception that night.

Day 5 - We headed to the Ft. Myers Time Square to have our canvases and panels stamped then setup to paint the 2 hour quick draw.  I'm not a fast painter so this rush rush made me a little nervous.  I decided to paint small (8 x 8 panel).

Here I am cleaning up after the quick draw, painting completed, pressure off.























Because we had such a long trip home we decided to pack up and head home shortly after the judging.  This was a great trip and I am grateful for the wonderful memories but also happy to be back home.