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Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky shook off the long winter and joined together for the first "Art Out" of 2022, painting in the beautiful back yard flower garden of Murline Penn in Danville.

This is my second time painting here in two years and I show how I went from a wider, more complicated view last year and zoomed in to simplify this year. Maybe by the third year, I'll zoom in even more because simplifying is the key to painting outdoors. It is wonderful to be surrounded by artists who love working together in the challenges of outdoor painting. In this case, we dealt with chilly temperatures that barely made it to 50 degrees, then some wind, and then a slight rain that provided a nice lunch-time break where we joined in Murline's warm kitchen for lunch together.

Attendance was among our best outings, showing how eager we are to get started outdoors in 2022. I painted with water mixable oils and started with two thumb nail sketches in my sketchbook to figure out how much to zoom and get the foundation of the composition. Starting with the sketchbook is something just taught to us a couple of weeks ago by Pat Williams of Richmond during one of our winter indoor classes.

What a great group, always willing to share talents and enthusiasm. The results of our outdoor paintings will be exhibited and offered for sale later this year at the Art Center of the Bluegrass in Danville.

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I’m the author of two books.

 I am a member of Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky; Plein Air Painters of the Bluegrass; and the Kentucky Appalachia Outdoor Painters.