Sharon Robinson of Indianapolis, a former Pendleton resident and current Pendleton Artists Society member, uses a palette knife as she works on a piece during the PAS Plein Air Competion on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Sharon Robinson of Indianapolis, a former Pendleton resident and current Pendleton Artists Society member, uses a palette knife as she works on a piece during the PAS Plein Air Competion on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Shirley resident Amy Pasko Blackwell, works on an oil painting in Falls Park during Pendleton Artists Society’s annual Plein Air Competition. Pasko Blackwell is a PAS member and has participated in the event since it began several years ago.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Shirley resident Amy Pasko Blackwell, works on an oil painting in Falls Park during Pendleton Artists Society’s annual Plein Air Competition. Pasko Blackwell is a PAS member and has participated in the event since it began several years ago.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Aaron McDermott works on a painting during the Pendleton Artists Society’s Plein Air Competition. McDermott, vice present of PAS board, started the painting outside but moved inside the art group’s Gallery 119 to finish it after it started to rain.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Amy Pasko Blackwell of Shirley place first in the Pendleton Artists Society’s Plein Air Competition on Saturday.
Submitted
Vicki Jameson of Anderson place second in the Pendleton Artists Society’s Plein Air Competition on Saturday.
Submitted
Sandy Hall of Greenfield placed third in the Pendleton Artists Society’s Plein Air Competition on Saturday.
Submitted
The winning pieces from the Pendleton Artists Society Plein Air Competition on Saturday (from left, by artist): Amy Pasko Blackwell, first; Sandy Hall, third; and Vicki Jameson, second.
Submitted
PENDLETON — Participation in the Pendleton Artist Society’s annual Plein Air Competition on Saturday was less than half of what it was last year, but one of the PAS members who helps run the event had a simple explanation.
“We didn’t count on a hurricane coming up this far,” Don Saxon said, while the handful of participants were still out around town working on their paintings done outdoors.
The heavy downpours from Friday had stopped, but it was still damp and overcast with scattered showers on Saturday.
“Let’s put it this way: We prepared for a much larger crowd,” Saxon said.
Five people signed up for the outdoor competition, which requires participants to register in the morning, have their blank canvases stamped and initialed, and then return with their finished works by 2:30 p.m.
Participants were told if the weather turned bad, they could return to the event’s home base — PAS’ Gallery 119 — to paint, using images on their phones, sketches or memory as their guides.
Sharon Robinson of Indianapolis, a PAS member since 2013, drove in for the competition and had found what she was going to paint by about 9 a.m. — a scene at the southwest corner of Falls Park, near the gazebo, facing northeast. What caught her eye included the “Welcome to Pendleton” mural on the duck barn, the falls in the background and birch trees in the foreground.
“I think it’s a great grouping of Pendleton,” she said.
Robinson said she lived in Pendleton for 30 years before moving to Indianapolis seven years ago. She said she participates regularly in PAS activities because she has a lot of friends in the group and loves art in general, oil painting specifically.
“I still come back here to visit and paint with my friends,” she said, indicating she’s painted since she was 8 and had the chance to pursue a career in art — instead of business — “but it didn’t go that way.”
Saturday was her first time for plein air, and the weather was not going to stop her, she said.
“I thought, rain or shine, I was going to be here,” Robinson said.
At the other end of the plein air experience spectrum was Amy Pasko Blackwell from Shirley.
She was also set up in Falls Park — a popular spot for plein air painters every year, but not a requirement — capturing an image that included Pendleton Historical Museum, the falls and the pedestrian bridge.
“I’m actually ahead of schedule,” Pasko Blackwell said just before noon.
She said she started painting when she was 9 and does plein air competitions frequently, about 15 to 20 every year.
She said it’s common for plein air painters to travel around to various events, many of which can be found at the Indiana Plein Air Painters Association website.
Just after 1 p.m., Sandy Hall from Greenfield, another repeat competitor in the PAS event, was working at the back of her vehicle in the PAS parking lot, preparing her piece for display and judging.
She popped a previous painting out of a frame so it could be used for her new piece. She came prepared with all the tools she needed, including a rechargeable power drill.
The back of her canvas panel revealed that she was not new to plein air; in addition to the PAS stamp on the back, there were two stamps from prior events, where she had registered but not used the board.
“I don’t know, it’s not as thick — you can always lay it on thicker,” she said when asked how her day went. “It started to rain and I decided to quit. I would say it’s my best effort today.”
In the end, contest judge Marilyn Witt determined the winners of the competition: Pasko Blackwell, first place ($100); Vicki Jameson, second ($75); and Hall, third ($50).