Artist, Sandy Haynes
From outside a farmers’ market to inside the St. Louis Art Museum, the Wednesday plein air group finds welcome venues to enjoy camaraderie and hone skills.
By Jennie Quick
If you happened to stop by the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market on a Wednesday morning in early June, you might have seen, among the flowering plants and the colorful displays of fruits and vegetables, a scattering of artists hard at work endeavoring to capture the lush bounty of early summer in oil, watercolor, pastel or graphite. The Wednesday Group, an offshoot of the Missouri Plein Air Painters Association (MOPAPA), is out and about town again this season. The group gathers at a designated location every Wednesday morning, summer, and winter, to paint or draw, and to enjoy the camaraderie of fellow artists.
From outside a farmers’ market to inside the St. Louis Art Museum, the Wednesday plein air group finds welcome venues to enjoy camaraderie and hone skills.
Heartland Art Club member Judy Stroup says the group “started itself” several years ago when she and a neighbor began painting outdoors on Wednesdays, in addition to the regular Sunday MOPAPA plein air outings. It grew in popularity immediately as many found it easier to meet on Wednesdays. The group is informally organized and is open to anyone who wants to show up at the week’s designated venue. Regular participants include a wide variety of artists, from professionals and retired art teachers to those who have taken up art in retirement and have no formal art education. Judy posts the location for the week on the MOPAPA Facebook page on Monday morning, together with the opening time. Some artists come regularly, and others only come occasionally. Newcomers are always welcome. Judy makes a point of being there every time and has deliberately kept the organization very casual with no dues or meetings. “The reward is the process; a pretty picture is not the goal,” Judy says. “No one should feel intimidated; you don’t have to share what you do. There is no critique.”
Judy Stroup & Lee Streett of the Wednesday Group
Char Braun & Margaret von Kaenel of the Wednesday Group
From April until November, the group meets somewhere outside, at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Farmers Market, the Zoo, or one of our many local parks. Participants usually work until around noon, and then some stay for lunch if the venue has a restaurant. Otherwise, some bring a picnic lunch to the park. The group returns to a given outdoor location several times in a row so that there is time to complete a work begun at the first visit. In winter, the group meets at the St. Louis Art Museum where visitors are allowed to draw, but not paint. The Art Museum provides folding stools that are very convenient. Many find the Museum to be a good place to focus on improving a particular skill. Debbie Rathert has been concentrating on portraits. Bob Gryzmala is working on perspective and three-dimensional drawing, so he chooses to draw sculptures. He says he finds the Museum’s Mayan figures, with their writhing snakes and contorted animals, very challenging. Margaret von Kaenel spent several visits recently drawing from the Museum’s armor collection using black and white charcoal on toned paper. She had a revelation when she added gray charcoal. The third color made all the difference. Emboldened, she added a red background the next time around, and the red made her drawing “jump”!
Half the fun at the Museum and at each outdoor location is deciding what to draw or paint. On Wednesday, June 12, at the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market, a core group of regulars turned up. Judy and Lee Streett found a spot in the shade among the hanging baskets, where Lee painted in watercolor and Judy drew. Char Braun and Margaret von Kaenel sat at the west end of the park with views of flowerbeds, a garden sculpture, and the Kirkwood Train Station. Char was working with colored pencil and Margaret with pastels. Bob Dryzmala was drawing a detailed sketch of the train station for later translation into an oil painting. Oil painter Sandy Haynes arrived a bit later to look around for inspiration. Debbie Rathert, another regular, was not there on June 12, but had spent the previous Wednesday drawing a large and colorful collection of garden pots.
The “regulars” to whom I spoke treasure the group for its relaxed approach and the friendly community that enriches their individual art practices. Char finds it takes away the stress of plein air painting, as the group is so supportive and nonjudgmental. Bob says that “the camaraderie is good, and we are able to just do our own thing which is kind of nice.” Debbie, who has been painting with the group since the beginning, loves the positive encouragement and the sharing of useful information such as recommendations for helpful art books, websites, and videos. And most important, she says, “This group keeps you practicing!”
Artist, Bob Dryzmala