Day 2 of the "Common Ground" plein air event in Ann Arbor, hosted by Nora Venturelli and Jill Wagner.
Today we spent our 90 degree temperature day at Bandemere Park along the Huron River near downtown Ann Arbor. I packed up my gear and traveled along the paved path to find this hidden gem of a site along the river at mid-morning:
Many of the oil and pastel artists were developing their river (and bridge) scenes at the boat launch area of the park. Here is Jill Wagner working on her demo this morning:
The view is along the Huron facing downtown Ann Arbor. Jill did a great job demonstrating how using the complementary colors of the actual scene can enable the true colors to "pop."
At about 2 in the afternoon, the University of Michigan Varsity Soccer Team (along with many other acquaintances) was taking its weekly break from practice, and crowded along the boat launch platform for some serious sunbathing and swimming. It was quite an entertaining site to see, and several of the soccer students visited our workshop to check out the art.
Tom Rosenbaum and others captured the scene. Here is Tom's inviting pastel painting:
It was a wonderful two days of plein air painting and I am looking forward to getting outdoors even more (but I think I will wait for the weather to cool off a bit)!