Showing posts with label Bluebell Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bluebell Festival. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2025

Post 535: PWAS Bluebell Challenge and Call for Art

PWAS Bluebell Challenge and Call for Art

The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) will have a table and a shared tent at the Bluebell Festival again this year on Sunday, March 30, 2025 from 10-3 which means that space for vendors and sizes of the artwork will be limited. We are combining this art show with a PWAS Art Challenge so that we have Bluebell and Nature themed artworks to show for the visitors.

The Bluebell Festival at Merrimac Farm

The Bluebell Festival will be held on Sunday, March 30 from 10 to 3 at the Merrimac Farm at 15020 Deepwood Lane, Nokesville, VA. This annual festival is sponsored by the Prince William Conservation Alliance and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. 

The dress code for being out with the Bluebells is proper footwear! Pathways may be muddy, so boots are best.

Another note is to get there early. The parking lots filled early and the road to get in was backed up with cars. The suggestion is to carpool if you can!

Staci Blanchard and Donna Liguria are coordinating the PWAS table at the Bluebell Festival so questions should be directed to thegoddessofglitter.art@gmail.com and Donna.Liguria@outlook.com

PWAS Bluebell Challenge

The PWAS Bluebell Challenge starts now! January 31 to March 24 – Bluebells are the emphasis for our 2nd Art Challenge. We ask for the PWAS members to create small artworks for the Bluebell Festival in any medium they like. We'll do the Bluebell Challenge similar to how we did the previous Lime Challenge but for the Bluebell Festival, other nature artwork is acceptable as well for the show. 


Ok, we clear? The Bluebell Challenge is Bluebell specific artwork. 

For the Bluebell Festival - Nature and Bluebells can be submitted.


Display and Sizes to Submit 

 

  1. Up to 4 Miniature 3x4 artworks with easels

  2. Or, up to 3 SMALL art pieces or canvases.

    a. Small Art Sizes: 4x4, 5x5, 5x7, 6x6, 8x10, 10x10.

  3. Or submit ONE 12x12 or a 11x14 piece; if framed - the total dimensions are 11x14.

  4. Each artist may submit up to 4 fine art giclee PRINTS if you have them, nature themed. Only ONE print stand will be used.

  5. Display Guidelines: All artwork must be properly displayed following the PWAS guidelines found at https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/p/display.html

    b. Proper wiring is required. No little sawtooth hangers. Typical standards apply for preparing your art; make sure it hangs securely. Note that we are NOT using gridwalls for this show but will be displaying on small easels.

    c. Please print out two sets of tags (one for the front, one for the back), and your inventory list signed and including the prints you are submitting. All must be handed in and signed the day you deliver your art for the event.

    d. Artwork on canvas can be on gallery-wrapped canvases and must have painted sides, edges. 

  6. This Show is un-juried but Nature and Bluebells is the theme.

Nature Subjects 

 

Art subjects that would be especially appreciated are: 

 

  • Birds - all kinds, cardinals, bluebirds, robins, eagles, hawks, etc 

  • Fish - all kinds, koi, trout, flounder, etc... 

  • Flowers - all kinds, but especially bluebells, of course

  • Trees - all kinds, especially woodsy subjects!

    Water scenes - especially rivers, creeks, ponds, and canoeing, kayaking, etc... 

  • Natures creatures - all kinds, deer, coyotes, bear, frogs, bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, chipmunks, etc...

    Pours - bring some inspiring pours, especially if they transcend the viewer like a bounty of blooms or a sunset!

    Photography, oil paintings, acrylic paintings, pastels, chalk drawings, pen & ink, and digital art are all appreciated. 

 

Bring your finished artwork and inventory lists to the March 24 PWAS Meeting at 7:30pm at the Tall Oaks Community Center 12298 Cotton Mill Drive, Woodbridge, VA. 

*Note that we may have a special presentation of the PWAS Bluebell Art Challenge entries at the March 24 meeting. This will be for the Bluebell specific artwork and we may vote on our favorites. Pictures will be taken to help promote PWAS at the Bluebell Festival.

Please provide protective material for your own art/prints for transport.

Plein Air Painting at the Bluebell Festival

The PWAS Plein Air Posse (PPAP) will be at the Bluebell Festival painting during the Festival on Sunday, March 30. Robert Dew and David Dillon are the leaders of the Posse, so if you would like to meet and paint that day with them, contact them directly at rddew@live.com and anarty1@comcast.net. The reference links above has pictures of the PPAP out painting in the bluebell fields. Time to be determined to meet, but last year it was at 9am. 

See Plein Air Painting Equipment and Supplies if needed:

https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/2024/05/post-463-plein-air-painting-equipment.html

Are you a member of PWAS? Have you renewed your membership yet? https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership Join today and join in the fun!


Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment (below)! ...Remember, comments are monitored so they will not show up immediately.

pinterest-site-verification=3ad32cc9cfeae507ba5a382d62fcee17

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Post 452: Bluebells and the Plein Air Posse

Bluebells and the Plein Air Posse

A story about the inaugural outdoor plein air painting session of the new Prince William Art Society group called the Plein Air Posse which had their first meeting and outing at the Merrimac Farm in Nokesville, Virginia on Sunday, April 7, 2024. The Bluebell Festival at this historic location made for a wonderful subject and feature for the group's artwork: Bluebells.

Bluebells and the Plein Air Posse

by Tom Payne

A crisp Sunday morning dawned on Merrimac Farm as members of the PWAS Plein Air Posse rode into Nokesville, Va. The sun was shining, the wind had died down from the previous day, and five PWAS artists were ready for a perfect day of painting among blooming bluebell flowers.

David Dillon, Robert Dew, Jess Kodad, Doreen Dauer, and Jeff Holman walked
down the trail that runs along Cedar Creek until each one found a suitable location to set up shop and begin their individual plein air painting experience.


The morning sunlight, streaming in from the east, cast long dappled shadows on the bluebells and the forest floor. Blues, greens, and browns were the colors of the day as beautiful sketches slowly appeared on the artists’ paper and canvas. Many visitors on the bluebell trail stopped to chat with the artists, offering compliments and words of encouragement. Everyone was smiling and enjoying the sea of azure blue at their feet.

Elizabeth Stathis and Donna Liguria held down the fort at the PWAS table. Lots of folks stopped by, admired the artwork, and inquired about joining our illustrious art society. We hope to see them again at an upcoming membership meeting.


One exciting highlight occurred when a photojournalist from Voice of America stopped to photograph and interview Doreen Dauer as she worked on her oil painting along the bluebell trail. 

He also stopped and photographed me as I was photographing Jeff Holman. Who knows? With a little luck, maybe PWAS will go worldwide as part of the story being done by VOA about the Bluebell Festival.

In case you didn’t know (I didn’t), Voice of America is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the USA! It is the largest and oldest of the U.S. funded international broadcasters, producing digital, TV, and radio content in 49 languages, distributed around the world. Its targeted and primary audience is non-American. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326 million adults per week across all platforms. Very cool!

During the day, I wandered down the trail and captured photographs of each PWAS
artist hard at work and enjoying the zen magic of the glorious day. Stay tuned and keep an eye out as members of the Posse begin to share their artwork on Facebook, the PWAS website, and the PWAS blog - Artistry Spin. They don’t know it yet but I’m going to encourage the plein air artists to share their experience and insights at a future membership meeting. The Plein Air Posse is always ready to ride, in search looking for more awesome painters and painting opportunities. Enjoy today!

For Further Reading: https://artistryspin.blogspot.com/2024/03/post-447-pwas-plein-air-posse.html

Tell us what you think in the comments below! We love hearing your feedback. Want to learn more about Plein Air Painting? Come by a Prince William Art Society meeting and join the group(s)! The Plein Air Posse is a part of PWAS. The next PWAS meeting is Monday, April 22, 2024 at 7:30pm at the Tall Oaks Community Center 12298 Cotton Mill Drive, Woodbridge, VA.


Author: Tom Payne
PWAS Member-at-Large (2024-2025) and digital artist, photographer. If a PWAS member has a suggestion or question to pose to the PWAS Board, contact Tom.
 
Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Photography/Video Credits: Tom Payne

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Post 451: Blue Sunday

Blue Sunday, a Day Amongst the Bluebells

Sunday, April 7, 2024. Big blue sky, mud, and blue flowers. It must be the Bluebell Festival at the Merrimac Farm! The farm is located at 15014 Deepwood Lane, Nokesville, Va and there was a LOT of people there. Parking is limited and we understood that folks were waiting to get in or parked way down the road and walked to it. We think it was worth it and you might too once you see it.

The Bluebell Festival

What a wonderful history of this 300-acre farm. Read more here

https://www.pwconserve.org/merrimacfarm/index.htm


 
The Bluebell Festival provided the tent with one table and one chair, although the tents are shared. Small artwork was the main theme of the day for sales. Be ready next time folks, bluebells all day. Elizabeth Stathis and I were working the table for PWAS and when Tom Payne was finished taking photographs, he helped watch while I did a walkabout.

PWAS Plein Air Posse

A little later in the day, I took a walk to the "Exit" side of the path as I was hearing in that direction was the most BLUE. And our new group with the Prince William Art Society called the Plein Air Posse were supposed to be along the path. 

One thing that is so amazing for this Woodbridge girl, is the absolute quiet while out on the path. True, there are other folks walking along here and there, but along certain points once they've trekked on is the stillness, the quiet. An occasional bird chirping or calling. I would imagine the plein air artists had that enjoyment at points in their day.

This was the first outing of the PWAS PAP group and I think they had a great time of it. I would love to hear their stories of lessons learned as most of them were first time plein air painting I believe.

First, I came across Doreen Dauer who was finished painting for the day and heading home.
When they say don't wear tennis shoes, wear rain/mud boots...I'm glad I heeded that advice. I soon came across another painter off the bluebell beaten path (although the warnings were there to NOT pick nor trample the bluebells). David Dillon had picked a spot and was painting away in watercolors.

In the area where David was painting...

David said that Robert Dew had been nearby but had since moved further through the pathways. So through the mud I went, passing many people with their families admiring and snapping photos of the sea of bluebells.
I came across Robert Dew who had already done one painting and was working on another. A lady wanted to buy the first one - I hope they work something out. Robert paints with oils. 

To follow the path or go back to the tent...? I went back to the tent to help with sales. We had a few other plein air artists that were somewhere painting but I didn't come across them in my half loop. 
As I walked back towards the cottage, the quiet of being out in nature is slowly replaced by the voices and sounds of humanity as I came along the path. It is an awakening of the creative artists and appreciation of plein air painting being out there painting live.
 
Here are a few photos from Robert Dew
Photo by Robert Dew

Photo by Robert Dew

Photo by Robert Dew

Everyone that worked and volunteered at the Festival was marvelous, extremely knowledgeable and just great people. They would come around periodically and check on us and see how things were going. We enjoyed the day so much! My new friend Carolyn Rubinfeld sent me these great pictures too.
Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld

Photo by Carolyn Rubinfeld
I'm thinking to paint MORE bluebells for next year, how about you?
 


Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Photography/Video Credits: Donna Liguria, Robert Dew and Carolyn Rubinfeld

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Post 448: PWAS at the Artist Inventory Sale, Harris Pavilion, Manassas, VA

PWAS at the Artist Inventory Sale, Harris Pavilion, Manassas, VA

The Spring Artist Inventory Sale at the Harris Pavilion in Manassas, VA will be attended by 13 members of the Prince William Art Society as a group on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Come by and see the artwork on display from 1 to 5pm.

Artist Inventory Sale, Harris Pavilion, Manassas, VA

Saturday, April 6, 2024 is the show date and the rain date is Sunday, April 7 - but the weather is supposed to be partly sunny and 54 degrees on Saturday!

This will be the first time the PWAS Artists as a group will have reserved a spot at this annual event and we hope to attend again! The Artist Inventory Sale is held twice a year, in the Spring and the Fall art shows at the Harris Pavilion in Manassas, VA. Renown artist, Mike Flynn is the organizer of this event.

The Artist Inventory Sale is a great place to browse the work of local artists with very diverse styles and backgrounds. And you may just find the perfect piece for your own home or a gift - Mother's Day and Father's Day are right around the corner!

Many artists will also have prints available as well as miniature paintings.

PWAS Members at the Artist Inventory Sale

The Prince William Art Society is the oldest art group in Prince William County, and also the largest with well over 60 members currently. The group began in 1971 and is a nonprofit art group that has shown art in and around the county in art shows, popup shows, galleries and every way we can! We call ourselves PWAS for short, pronounced as "P-WAZ". Find out more here https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/

These are the thirteen artists that will be showing on Saturday, April 6th.

Staci Blanchard
Donna Liguria
Kelly Haneklau
Nicole Goble
Katie Keller Dugan
Sonya Cromwell
Sandra Lewin
Mandy Powell
Richard B. Tyler
Doreen Dauer
Brittney Walker
Mark Clifton
Evelyn Chatters

Artist Inventory Sale 2023

Artist Inventory Sale 2023 

Come by and enjoy the art, talk to the artists and have a great day!

PWAS will also be at the Bluebell Festival in Nokesville, VA on Sunday, April 7 along with their new off-shoot group of plein air artists out painting the day.  This will be the first time also at this awesome event and this should be a beauty! Seas of blue along the forest floor...I can hardly wait! Find out more here http://www.pwconserve.org/merrimacfarm/bluebellfestival/

PWAS is also currently showing at the Sunshine Ridge Farm Winery in Gainsville in the upper room, so check if there is an event upstairs first! It's a wonderful spot with a beautiful view of the lake!

Art is in bloom!


Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Photography/Video Credits: Donna Liguria

Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Have an idea for a blog post? Are you a writer and want to help with the blog? Let me know! Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!