Perspective

Life is an evolution. Sometimes you arrive at a good place. That's where I am.

Tonight as I drove back from the MAPAPA Paint Out and meeting, I had on the radio. "I'm just waiting on a friend" by the Rolling Stones came on and I felt the fullness of that song as it applies to me and painting. I think the word "networking" sounds so businessy and cold. Instead, art networking to me is more about making friends, earning my Kindergarten teacher's smiley face in the 'works and plays well with others' box.

Today, I had to miss the Maryland Pastel Society (MPS) meeting, which overlapped with the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association (MAPAPA), because the prospect of painting on a winter morning 7-9a with a bunch of other crazy people was quite alluring. As I found out, these crazy people out in the cold are actually quite warm.

It began Friday evening when Patsy was kind enough to open her home to three painters: Jane Ramsey, Mary Pritchard, and me. I can't thank Patsy enough for her hospitality.

After the Paint Out, Saturday brought four workshops which were interesting beyond belief. I'll blog about them separately, as they are deserving of their own turf.

In the mean time, if you are interested in painting en plein air in the Northern Virginia area, please join MAPAPA. I volunteered to be the Paint Out Captain for this area. A group of us contributed some ideas for the MAPAPA calendar: Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg and Sky Meadow State Park in Paris. There are also some painters in the Alexandria area, as well as Mary Moon from Centreville, who are interested in getting together on Fridays, so there will be a variety of impromptu subgroup activities as well.

And so it all comes full circle. I'm just waiting on a friend to come out and play paint with me. And I thank the many friends I have online, too, even all you lurkers, who play with me regularly.