Olmsted Plein Air Invitational

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Next spring, I'll be attending the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia.  At the time of getting the invitation from Andy Hall, he explained this was their first year.  I forgot to post this awesome palette they sent me earlier.  Recently, I looked at the roster of the other artist attending.  "Whoa!", I said to myself as I saw a who's who of plein air painters also invited.  Needless to say, another cool thing I saw was several artists that I had the pleasure of making friends with at Easton this past summer.  My next thought was to look at the terrain of the park.  The park was designed by Frederic Law Olmsted, who also designed NYC Central Park, (I instantly flashed back to the movie, "The Park Is Mine", starring Tommy Lee Jones).  When I got to the park map legend, there were several diagrams of trees and what? Alligators? For a brief moment the thought popped up I might be painting alongside a pond and out of nowhere an alligator would lurch out at me.  My wife, who was over looking with me at the computer, said, "The gator is a work vehicle".  Duh, I'm such a dunce!  So now, I began to think, I'm a train guy, I paint structures, vehicles and buildings.  Not many trees.  It became very clear that I was really going to need to study and learn how to paint trees and vegetation much better than I currently do.  So, after I get my current painting done, (another train), it's off to paint and study trees and other plant life!  Also, it's a indication to me that I need to finish the John Carlson book I started, but haven't finished yet.

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