PAINTING WITH FRIENDS

(Left to right) Rusty Jones, Bob Rohm,
Bruce Peil and David Mooreland Bates

One of the great joys of plein air painting is painting
with a group of friends. Several years ago I joined
an organization dedicated to painting outdoors,
the Outdoor Painters Society. Almost every month
we paint at different locations and each Fall we take
an extended painting trip to Colorado, New Mexico
or Arizona.

Most trips I paint with the three characters pictured
above. We typically share the expense of a cabin and
food. Each day we gather and show our work and at
the end of the week we invite all the other artists
who have painted with us during the week to meet
for a show-and-tell.

I also paint with John Cook, Kaye Franklin,
Fran Ellisor, Beverly Boren, Chase Almond and others.
I cherish my time and friendship with this great
group of friends. We are all talented, professional
painters who share the love of the outdoors and
painting on location. I wouldn't
trade our time together for anything.