Marquette’s Art Week officially ended on Saturday. It was a week of artistic activity, including the Art Stroll in downtown Marquette, and culminating with the Fresh Coast Plein Air Festival and the reception that goes with it.
I took the week off from my real job so I could get ready for the events I had chosen to participate in. I got up early every morning and painted, working on new work to show off around town. I wanted to put out my best work to date. I wanted to be better than I was before, and I wanted to show the community that I was pursuing excellence.
Leading into Art Week, I was the featured artist on the cover of the Marquette Monthly. This lead to the sale of the row boat painting below! I man named Mike saw it on the cover, found me on Instagram, and said “That’s my boat!” He built it!
So I was up at 5:00 a.m. working on my paintings. I put out a few good paintings from my studio.
On Wednesday, I took a break from the studio and joined artists Kathleen Mooney and Kathleen Conover on a plein air session. Both are watercolorists, and both tend to paint a little on the abstract side. I was definitely the odd duck in this trio!
Thursday was the Art Stroll! For me, the Art Stroll is the best part of Art Week! Downtown Marquette becomes a large outdoor art fair, as local artists team up with local businesses to show their work for the night.
In my case this year, I was one of the three featured artists at Madgoodies Studio. We got a lot of traffic, and even made the local news!
Art shows are exhausting. On Friday I chilled a bit. In the evening, I went to register my canvas for the next day’s Plein Air Festival.
There was a sort of sub-event tied to the Plein Air Festival; the Dusk to Dark Plein Air event. Artists had to paint from between 6:00 p.m. and dark, and they had to stay in Presque Isle Park.
I made myself available to help with the registration, but they didn’t need me. So my wife and I wandered around and found the two Kathleens again, painting away at the setting sun!
The next morning, we got up early so I could paint my piece for the festival. I had scouted a great spot along a bubbling part of the Dead River. I don’t know why it’s called the Dead River. It’s teaming with life! The lush trees, the wildlife, the flowers and grasses… the bugs!
At first, I sat in the sand along the river. The mosquitoes started to buzz me, then bite me, then they even tried to carry me away. I had a natural bug deterrent that usually works well. That day, I could hear the mosquitoes laughing at me and my bug spray.
So I blocked in the scene, snapped a photo, and carried my stuff up the steep bank, into the sun and air, and finished it in relative comfort.
The Plein Air Art Festival is billed as a competition. We compete. There were dozens of painters, and only a few could win.
I did not win a prize in the competition. But I don’t care. I’m proud of my painting. It’s probably the best plein air painting I’ve done. I’m happy with my effort and the way it turned out. It’s pretty!
Someone else agrees with me, and I got an even better prize. I sold the painting!
Art Week was a success for me. I had a lot of fun, I learned some things, I made new painting friends, I got my name out, I got my work out, I sold a few things.
I bettered myself as I pursued excellence!
