Cape Charles Scenes: Plein Air Artists Compete Outdoors

Susan Check and Jenny Windsor of Virginia Beach set up easels in the shade at the harbor to paint the concrete plant. (Wave photos)

BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS
Cape Charles Wave

September 5, 2012

Twenty painters scattered around Cape Charles over Labor Day weekend to create quick — and beautiful — works of art. Then they gathered at the Stage Door Gallery for their paintings to be judged and awarded prizes.

“On a day that’s not brutally hot, it’s just pleasant to be outside,” said Susan Check. She and Jenny Windsor, both from Virginia Beach, had set up their easels in the small gazebo on the town harbor. They wanted to paint in the shade, and were fascinated by the view that combined boats and a concrete plant.

“We do quite a few plein air events,” said Windsor. “It makes you make decisions fast. It pushes you.”

This weekend’s painting flurry was the fifth plein air happening organized by Arts Enter. The artists scattered all over town, and produced multiple canvases.

Sunday evening, the artists gathered with their paintings to display their work at the Stage Door Gallery and be judged by Irene Ritter, a stone sculptor, former deputy mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, and former editor of Nashville Magazine. Ritter has been friends with gallery manager Ellen Moore for 40 years, and stayed with her during the event.

Artists, art lovers and potential buyers milled around the gallery as Ritter scrutinized each piece. Then someone rang the big iron bell and the crowd hushed.

Irene Ritter and Ellen Moore scrutinizing the plein air canvases.

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“We gave great pieces of art here and some wonderful artists,” said Moore to the gathering. “Oh, the light was a bear. It was two days of sweating. But better than last year, when it rained.”

The Best in Show art was promptly sold.

Best in Show: Carole Beggemann-Pierson, “Beach and Beyond”
1st Place: Jenny Windsor, “King’s Creek”
2nd Place: Clelia Sheppard, “Dawn at the Harbor”
3rd Place: Doug Small, “Workboat”

Plein Air Sponsors
Jerry’s Artarama in Virginia Beach
Mark Clarke, M.D.
Hook U Up Gourmet
Gull Hummock Gourmet Market
Robert Titcomb, O.D.
Merit Award Winners
Marty Burgess, Kilroy Was Here
Susan Check, Green Shed
Cindi Brown, Putter Duck Farm
Brenda Clark, Mason Street Ladies
Doug Clark, Train and Shed

Carole Boggemann-Pierson with her Best In Show entry.