Last October I received an email from the Gloucester Museum of Fine Arts inviting me to participate in their plein air painting competition in June of 2025. To be clear, this museum is in Gloucester Virginia and not Gloucester Massachusetts. I didn’t know that this other Gloucester even existed and so I was intrigued. I spoke with a few different artists who had previously participated in this event. Each artist I contacted spoke very highly of the event, the organizers and about how great the subject matter is to paint in the area. I emailed the organizers and happily accepted the invitation to join them for their 9th annual event.
Three days later I went into cardiac arrest playing golf. Having survived that event, as I was slowly recovering at home and building back strength from the initial trauma and then triple bypass surgery, I wondered if I would still be able to participate in this event or if I’d be pushing myself. I figured that I would be a little more than 7 months into a recovery that takes a good full year to do. As each month went by I was starting to think that I was feeling pretty darn good for someone in my position. I saw the Gloucester event as one of my goals to get back into the game and so I started making plans for my trip south.
It’s important to have goals. I started out in recovery with very small goals like getting myself dressed and showered daily and then to eventually be able to get through a day without constant napping :) Walking and exercising became a daily habit again and then driving myself to the studio to paint for a couple of hours etc.
Fast forward to mid June and I felt ready to drive myself to Virginia and to for the Gloucester plein air event. I have to admit that as ready as I was, there was some trepidation and doubt too. I had not been painting outside on a regular basis yet and certainly not for several days in a row, for most of each day, and with the added pressure of having to turn in 5 competition pieces at the end of the week. There was also the requirement to attend other side events during the week to meet potential collectors and to hang out with other artists. I just knew I had to pace myself and that I wasn’t going to have limitless energy. I also wondered how the Virginia heat would affect me. My true goal was to go to the event and prove to myself that I could do it. My main objective was to be able to say that I did it, that I had participated and turned in finished work. Beyond that I had no expectations.
After a couple of false starts with painting, I was able to find my groove. The result? I was awarded one of the highest honors for an artist for the week by being recognized by my peers with the ‘Artists Choice’ award. I was also awarded ‘Best in Show’ by awards judge Bob Upton for my painting “Fish Shack at Perrin Creek” 12x16” (pictured above) Wow. To say that I was blown away is to put it mildly. I sold most of my competition paintings at the gala opening and was overjoyed by the success of the show for all the participating artists. Sales were great. The Gloucester Virginia community really supports the arts in a big way.
I loved the similarities between both Gloucester’s if-you-will. Just like its Massachusetts counterpart, Gloucester Virginia is surrounded by water with tidal rivers and ocean. Instead of lobster boats and other northeast fishing vessels, there is the oyster fishermen with their dead rise boats and the crab fishermen etc. There were marina’s galore to go exploring in, public and private residences filled with varying subject matter, like creeks, marshes, farm equipment and barns, outbuildings, animals and what-have-you. They have some wonderful historic buildings too.
I’m a big fan of this event and because I won a top prize, I’m automatically invited back next year. The organizers of this event, Suzanne, Margaret and Pam who volunteer their time, do an exceptional job and seem to have cracked the code to creating a wonderful experience both for the artists and for their community.
In September of this year, I’ll be participating in the Litchfield Plein Air event in Connecticut and then the Cape Ann Plein Air event in October. I’m not expecting the same great results but as the old saying goes. “You never know unless you try”.
Warm regards,
David & Pam