Sonnenberg gardens

During the Fingerlakes Plein Air Festival there is one day where the Sonnenberg Gardens are open to the public and free. Being the cheap-o guy that I am I hurried up there for some sketching! [namiki falcon and a Lamy Safari with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a Stillman & Birn Gamma sketchbook-landscape] 

Finger Lakes Plein Air

The FL Plein Air Festival is a fairly large art festival here in the finger lakes. There are 40 some juried-in artists that compete for a grand prize after painting all week. Their subjects are all taken from the finger lakes and range from creeks, to lakes, to barns, to ice cream shops. The artists travel around and set up shop in various locations and for 6 days you bump into them like a giant where's waldo book. I met a few artists and hit it off with a bunch of art-geek conversations. Keith Grunderson and Janet Howard-Fatta were two that I kept bumping in to! 

While the juried in artists are painting away there is a community quick paint event. We have 2 hours to paint and all of us are confined to a small location with a similar subject. This year was the boathouses that I paint and sketch on a weekly basis! 


I decided I should paint the boathouses without actually painting the boathouses. I found some cool buoys and set to work! 

the sketch

the final

my setup

our sketch group participants!