A steady mist fell continuously
through chilly air Saturday, but the spirits of 29 painters were not dampened.
They had each paid $60 a piece to take part in the Chadds Ford Historical
Society’s third annual plein air event. And paint they did.

Some painted from their cars,
others from building overhangs and still others braved the elements outright,
standing and painting in the rain.

En plein air is French for in open air and that’s where they
paint—outside, regardless of the weather. In 2010 they painted in a falling
snow and artists had to keep wiping the snow from their canvases.

The event is another
fund-raiser for the society whose main fund-raising events are Chadds Ford Days
in September and The Great Pumpkin Carve in October.

In addition to the artists’
entry fees, the Historical Society takes 20 percent of the proceeds from
paintings sold at the “wet paint sale” held Saturday evening after the artists
bring in their freshly painted works of art.

This year, artists were given
and additional day to paint, Friday. While their canvases had to have the
official stamp from the society, artists were not required to turn in their
work on Friday and there was no way to know whether all of Friday’s work was
done outside.

Works from Friday could be in
the sale, but every artist had to have for sale at least one piece done on
Saturday.

Regardless of why the event is
held—and regardless of how extra wet the paintings might have been—artists love
dong what they do.

Jane Ramsey, from Macungie,
said, “I have a new word for plein air,
a new interpretation, it’s called improvising. You improvise, you find shelter,
sit in your car, go under a porch.”

Ramsey said she painted from
her car with the window rolled down and a towel handy to keep wiping herself
off.

The steady mist didn’t bother
her at all: “It was really beautiful,” she said. “It’s all part of it. I love
the idea that it’s different every time, that it’s not always sunny and 75. It
creates different lights, different effects [and] a different mood. So it was
just really challenging.”

She added she would definitely
be back next year.

Mary Pritchard, from
Chestertown, Md. said that she likes painting in the Chadds Ford area. Barns
are one of her favorite subject matters, and she said there’s a different
architecture between the Eastern Shore and the Chadds Ford region.

“The challenge for painting up
here is to paint something that doesn’t look like buckets, barns and daisies.
When I paint barns I’m trying to paint them my way, not Andrew Wyeth’s or
somebody else’s,” Pritchard said.

She’s been coming to the CFHS plein air event since they started two
years ago, and said, during an interview Friday morning, she’d be painting from
her car on Saturday because of the weather. Her medium is pastels.

Another artist, Kenn Backhaus,
from Robesonia, said plein air is
“almost like performance art.”

He explained that most art is
usually done in a studio, or otherwise inside, then brought to a gallery. Plein air is different because, “We’re
out there, performing where people can stop and watch…That’s really a unique
thing. People really enjoy being able to watch the process of how these things
are done,” he said.

Gary Pendleton, from North
Beach, Md., and president of the Mid Atlantic Plein Air Painters’ Association,
said the event is a gathering of friends and colleagues.

“It’s a great opportunity to
socialize and catch up,” Pendleton said.

Coordinating the event for the
Historical Society was Jacalyn Beam, also a plein air artist. She said it was a
great event despite the weather.

“I think things went
beautifully. The artists were so excited. They came into town with a great
attitude. They love to come to Chadds Ford. Testimony to that is that we had 29
artists come, they’re painting in the rain—and they knew it was going to sleet
or snow—but they came anyway,” Beam said.