Art 10 artists focus on St. Andrews

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

ST. ANDREWS - After spending three days scattered around the Bay of Fundy painting in thick fog and rain, a group of artists got together in St. Andrews Wednesday to display their work.

The Plein Art Painters of Bay of Fundy held their second annual exhibit this week at the Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre, with the 10 artists displaying the work they had created last weekend.

Michael Chesley Johnson of Campobello said the group is made up of artists from Canada and the United States that get together once a year to spend three days painting, together and apart, on the Bay of Fundy. One year they paint in the U.S. and the next year they paint in Canada. This year the artists focused their work on the St. Andrews area.

"It teaches you to observe the landscape better than you would if you were in the studio," said Johnson.

"There are differences in painting from a landscape outside and photograph. What you get when you paint outdoors is a piece that is more vibrant and has more energy behind it and has a more appealing look than studio pieces."

After spending three days painting the landscape, Johnson said it was interesting to see the subject matter and quality of work done by the other nine painters.

Deborah Healy was also in the group of artists. She said she spent most of her time painting flowers at Kingsbrae Gardens and so did not have as hard a time as some artists who were trying to paint the water and boats. Anne Johnston said the weather was so bad she had to paint in the back of her SUV.

"It's a good opportunity to paint with other people, except when I was painting I didn't see any other people painting," said Johnston. "It is interesting: everyone has a different style and it is good to look at other people's work."

Jay Remer, president of the Sunbury Shores board of directors, said he liked the exhibit because he always finds it interesting to see paintings of scenes he has seen with this own eyes.

"It was bright and colourful," he said, "and people enjoyed it."