The weather was beautiful last Saturday for the opening, a perfect Spring day. We dropped off some hanging baskets from the market – they added some great color to the building – and then we headed over to the Nature Center. That’s a very pretty spot with a nice little pond full of newts, frogs and turtles. I’ve never seen so many newts before! They were fun to watch. The selection of native plants they had at the sale was really pretty comprehensive – I had a hard time choosing!
As for the opening, there was good sized crowd and later I heard one of the museum gentlemen (I don’t think it was the president, but someone like that) say that it was the most successful opening they’ve had to date… I think that the number of people involved in the show had something to do with that, but even so it was a great event. There was a harpist and a classical guitarist playing music, and the show itself was hung beautifully.
The most exciting part, for me, was winning a Merit Award. Very pleasantly unexpected, and my first plein air award! The museum was generous enough to add a one year membership to each prize, which already included a really neat ribbon and a gift certificate to Rochester Art Supply. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the membership, I hear the classes they offer at the museum are interesting. Hamlin Sycamore won the prize – it’s always been one of my favorites.
The mural project I’m working on right now is pretty interesting! Definitely an unusual surface… I will take some photos tomorrow to post, so you can watch as it progresses. It will actually be accessible to the public pretty frequently.