Art Air is billed as the world's largest open air painting workshop, and I feel very fortunate to be able to see this every year. I was quite critical of it last year, but this week we've had torrential rainfall and it looked as if it might be a wash-out so I wasn't going to criticise anyone brave enough to venture out on Saturday. Friday was surprisingly sunny and warm again so I thought things were looking up. However, that night the storms came back and the rain lashing the windows kept me awake most of the night. On Saturday morning the rain was torrential - even worse than before - and there was no sign of it clearing. I had to go into town anyway as Alex needed a few things, and eventually we decided to brave it at about 1.30. As we were going in on the tram (not the one above, that's an old one and seems to be just for show as it's always empty) the rain eased a little but not enough to get any more painters out.
And this is all I saw - about three or four painters under the canopy and lots of soggy, unused easels and chairs. I spoke to one of the organisers and she told me that most of the painters had already finished for the day so there was no point checking out the other locations. She also informed me that they had about a 70% turn-out (registration was the previous day) and that all had attempted only one painting whereas in previous years they do one or more. I was interested in finding out what art materials the sponsors were handing out, as last year it was at this event that I discovered the Caran d'Ache Museum watercolour leads. (I'd still use them if they extended the range of colours and that link is to my own blog post as they are not even mentioned on their own website!) This year, predictably, it was the Luminance colour pencils but I didn't see the sets so I can't say how many were given to each participant.
So that, I'm afraid, is all for this year. I can't believe it's the third one I've seen, so it won't seem like a long wait until the next. I hope the weather will be better because, surely, it can't be any worse!
For last year's winners, you can check the Air Art website.
3 comments:
What a shame, Felicity -- but glad you ventured to see nonetheless ... so many events were rained out here as well during our tropical storm ... I hate that for all the organizers and the folks looking forward to such a fun outdor event!
Just found your site and enjoyed it greatly. I especially liked seeing your sketches- amazing.
Such a shame about the weather, Felicity....it must have put a lot of the artists off hanging around for too long.
On another note, I wanted to say thank you for your caring words on the passing of my ex-husband and kids' Dad recently. We so appreciated it.
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